Mamata Banerjee: The Supreme Court of India has lashed out strongly on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after she was found guilty of interfering in the i-PAC probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The writ petition of ED was heard by a bench of Justices PK Mishra and NV Anjaria. The petition alleged that the sitting CM and several state police officers deliberately obstructed its search of the i-PAC office.
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Interestingly, i-PAC is the political consultancy firm that is employed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Court’s Observations
It was observed by the Supreme Court that this was not a state and centre dispute. The SC remarked that it is a case wherein an individual who is the sitting CM of a state walked in the middle of an ongoing probe to put democracy in peril.
The SC also observed that Mamata Banerjee and her team of lawyers talk about Hormasji Maneckji Seervai and Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar but even they would not have imagined a situation in India where a sitting CM will walk into the office during an ongoing investigation.
Mamata Banerjee-What’s The Case About?
In January this year, the ED initiated a series of raids at 10 premises across Delhi and West Bengal in connection with a probe related to money laundering into a coal smuggling syndicate that was allegedly led by Anup Majee. The raid targets included office of i-PAC, a political consultancy firm, and the residence of Pratik Jain, the chief of i-PAC and a key strategist for the TMC.
While ED raids were going on, the West Bengal CM suddenly make an appearance at the raid site. She was accompanied by a group of state police personnel, which resulted in an intense standoff with the central agency. It was alleged by the ED that Mamata Banerjee took away electronic evidence and physical documents to disrupt the entire legal process.
