Banerjee storms I-PAC chief’s house amid ED raid, alleges bid to seize TMC’s internal data
Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches at the premises of political consultancy firm I-PAC and its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said. Jain is the co-founder of the Indian Political Action Committee, or I-PAC, they said. He is also the head of the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in West Bengal. Some other premises are also being searched by the agency, the sources said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, meanwhile, reached Jain’s residence and condemned the ED action, alleging that the central agency was attempting to seize the TMC’s internal documents, hard disks and sensitive digital data. She said the raid at the residence of Jain, “the in-charge of my IT cell”, was politically motivated and unconstitutional. Banerjee reached Jain’s house around noon, minutes after Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma arrived there, and stayed for about 20-25 minutes before emerging with a green folder in her hand. “ED raided my IT sector (cell) office, and searched the residence of the in-charge of my IT sector (cell). They were confiscating my party’s documents and hard disks, which has details about our party candidates for assembly polls. I have brought those back,” Banerjee told reporters. She accused the ED of trying to take away hard disks, mobile phones, candidate lists and internal strategy documents of the ruling party. “Is it the duty of the ED to collect political party data?” the CM asked. Apart from political consultancy for the TMC, I-PAC also looks after the IT and media cell of the party. Launching a blistering attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Banerjee described the searches as “political vendetta”, and said constitutional agencies were being misused to intimidate opposition parties. “This is not law enforcement, this is political vendetta. The home minister is behaving like the nastiest home minister, not someone who protects the country,” she alleged.
Reacting to the development, the Trinamool Congress said what has unfolded is deliberate and politically motivated and described it as yet another attempt by the BJP to capture Bengal through unethical means. Unable to fight democratically, the BJP is now using the ED as a weapon, trying to forcibly seize party documents, internal strategies, candidate-related details, and crucial papers, the party alleged, claiming the raid is a part of this larger conspiracy, orchestrated through the ED under the direction of an authoritarian Home Minister. The TMC said Hon’ble Chairperson Mamata Banerjee has made it absolutely clear that this conspiracy will be resisted at every step and will never be allowed to succeed. Search operations have also been underway since morning at the office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), the consultancy firm headed by Jain. Pointing to the file she carried while exiting the house, Banerjee claimed ED officials were walking away with documents and had even attempted to take a laptop. She also alleged that central agencies were selectively collecting political information, while names of over 15 lakh people from West Bengal had been deleted from electoral rolls without adequate explanation. Banerjee later arrived at I-PAC’s Sector-V office in Salt Lake, where DGP Rajeev Kumar is also present. The episode is reminiscent of a 2019 standoff at Loudon Street, when the CBI searched the bungalow of then police commissioner Rajeev Kumar and Banerjee had rushed to the spot, and later staged a dharna in central Kolkata.
