The Supreme Court is set to hear a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee regarding the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) raid case. This legal action stems from allegations of the Chief Minister’s involvement in an ED search operation at the I-PAC premises. The ED conducted raids on January 8 as part of a money laundering investigation related to a purported coal smuggling scam.
The Enforcement Directorate claims that Mamata Banerjee, along with over 100 police personnel and senior officials, entered the I-PAC office and the residence of its founder, Pratik Jain, during the searches. It is alleged that she removed crucial evidence without authorization, including laptops, mobile phones, and documents with electoral data. The Supreme Court previously termed this incident as “very unusual” and expressed concerns about the lack of clear legal remedies in such cases involving high-ranking state officials obstructing central investigations.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED, has requested a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the alleged interference by Mamata Banerjee. The ED seeks appropriate action against the Chief Minister and the state’s Director General of Police, emphasizing that central investigative bodies should not be impeded without recourse. The West Bengal government, represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, has challenged the admissibility of the plea, arguing that the ED, as a government entity, cannot assert fundamental rights or directly approach the Supreme Court under Article 32.
The state government contends that the raids are politically motivated and designed to undermine the All India Trinamool Congress ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections. In a related development, I-PAC co-founder Vinesh Kumar Chandel was arrested on April 13, leading to a reported slowdown or halt in the organization’s activities in West Bengal. Chandel was remanded to 10 days of ED custody by a court at Patiala House Court in connection with the money laundering investigation linked to the alleged coal pilferage case.
