The Enforcement Directorate has moved the Supreme Court seeking suspension of West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, alleging interference in the I-PAC raid on Pratik Jain. It also reminded the Court that Kumar earlier joined a dharna with Mamata Banerjee.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted a new petition to the Supreme Court, seeking to suspend West Bengal’s Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar.
The ED asserts that Kumar and other senior officials interfered during the searches conducted at I-PAC director Pratik Jain’s residence in Kolkata on January 8.
I-PAC has been tasked with developing electoral strategies for the Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, as the Assembly elections approach later this year.
In its petition, the ED highlighted Rajeev Kumar’s previous conduct, noting that he participated in a dharna (sit-in protest) alongside Mamata Banerjee while serving as the Kolkata Police Commissioner.
The Supreme Court heard the ED’s accusations today, claiming that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee obstructed a search operation at the I-PAC’s Kolkata office.
The petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, will be addressed by a bench comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Vipul M Pancholi.
In addition to Chief Minister Banerjee, the ED has named the West Bengal government, Rajeev Kumar, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma, and South Kolkata Deputy Commissioner Priyabatra Roy as respondents.
This petition arises from an incident last week when ED officials were searching the I-PAC office in Kolkata as part of a money laundering investigation linked to the alleged coal scam.
The agency claims that Mamata Banerjee appeared at the site during the search, accompanied by senior Trinamool leaders, and confronted the officers present.
Moreover, the ED alleges that the Chief Minister removed certain files from the office during the operation, which significantly obstructed the investigation.
The ED argues that the Chief Minister’s presence at the search location created a hostile environment for officers and hindered the agency’s capacity to perform its statutory duties independently. The agency has also indicated that it has faced repeated obstruction and a lack of cooperation from the state government throughout the investigation.
In response to the incident, the West Bengal Police filed an FIR against ED officials, further intensifying the conflict between the state administration and the central agency. Given these developments, the ED has approached the Supreme Court to request directions for an independent inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), asserting that a neutral central agency is needed due to the alleged interferences by the state government.
Prior to this, the ED had sought protections and directives from the Calcutta High Court regarding the same situation.
Earlier this week, the Calcutta High Court dismissed a petition from the Trinamool Congress after noting that the ED had stated it had not seized any documents or materials from the I-PAC office or from Pratik Jain.
This controversy originates from the ED’s raids in Kolkata targeting locations associated with I-PAC, which the agency claims are part of its investigation into a multi-crore coal scam.
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