Mamata Banerjee vs ED case: Supreme Court asks Bengal government to respond
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) – The Supreme Court has issued notices to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar in the ED case related to raids on the offices of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of co-founder Pratik Jain. The Supreme Court has directed the Bengal police to preserve CCTV footage related to the raids.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar of obstructing the raid. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, representing the ED, argued in the Supreme Court that the Chief Minister herself is an accused in the case. He alleged that the Chief Minister personally committed the theft in the DGP's presence, while the DGP acted as an accomplice.
After hearing arguments, a bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul Pancholi stayed the FIR filed by the West Bengal Police against ED officials. The Supreme Court acknowledged that the petitions filed by the ED raised serious questions. The court stated that if such issues remained unresolved, they could lead to a situation of "anarchy" in one or more states. In view of this, the bench headed by Justice Mishra issued notices to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar, Kolkata Police Commissioner, and others. The bench granted the respondents two weeks to file their counter-affidavits and scheduled the next hearing for February 3. In its interim order, the Supreme Court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage and other storage devices containing recordings of the searched premises and surrounding areas until the next hearing date.
The Supreme Court also recorded the arguments of Sibal and Singhvi in the order. Sibal and Singhvi said that these petitions are not worth hearing. They said that there is a pattern of interference by the ED in the name of investigation, just when elections are about to take place. They said that this argument should not be considered when the matter is pending in the High Court. The Supreme Court has also sought a response from the Mamata government on the new petition of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED filed a new petition demanding the suspension of top officials of the West Bengal Police including DGP Rajeev Kumar.