The Enforcement Directorate has raided the premises of political consultancy firm I-PAC and its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata as part of a money laundering probe, official sources said. File | Photo credit: PTI
The West Bengal government has questioned the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) move to approach the Supreme Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged botching of its raids at the offices of political consultancy firm I-PAC by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state officials.
The state questioned whether the petition was maintainable when a similar case was heard by the Calcutta High Court raising the same objections.
A bench headed by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra on January 15 stayed the Calcutta Police’s investigation against ED officials who conducted searches at the office of I-PAC and the residence of its co-founder Pratik Jain on January 8.
The state police investigation was based on allegations that sensitive election records of the ruling Trinamool Congress, which consults I-PAC on electoral and political strategy, were “stolen” by officials of the central agency during the raids. Complaints were lodged against the ED at Shakespeare Sarani Police Station and Bidhannagar Electronic Complex Police Station.
In its reply to the ED petition, the state government said there cannot be “parallel proceedings” before the High Court and the Supreme Court. It said the central agency does not have the fundamental right to file a case in the apex court. The state argued that ED did not have the authority to conduct “omnibus searches and seizures” and that the agency violated privileged communications.
The ED has asked the CBI to probe state and police personnel for botching raids that were part of the probe into the ₹2,742 crore coal smuggling case. In its order, the bench said the case raises “serious” issues regarding the scope of investigations conducted by central agencies like the ED and interventions by state agencies.
“In our opinion, in order to maintain the rule of law in the country and to ensure the independent functioning of each body, it is necessary to examine this issue so that the perpetrators cannot be protected under the shield of the law enforcement agencies of a particular state. These are more extensive issues. If they do not decide, the situation may worsen and the situation of lawlessness may prevail in one or the other state, which is recorded in different states, with regard to January,” he said. 15 order.
Published – 02 Feb 2026 23:02 IST
