The petition is listed before Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul M. Pancholi. File | Photo credit: The Hindu
The Supreme Court is scheduled on January 15 to hear a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to have the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigate the alleged foiling of its raids at the Kolkata offices of political consultancy firm I-PAC and its co-founder Pratik Jain by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other state officials.
The petition is listed before Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul M. Pancholi.
The ED has charged the State of West Bengal, Ms. Banerjee, the State Director General of Police, the Commissioner of Police of Kolkata and the Deputy Commissioner of Police of South Kolkata along with the CBI.
The state has already filed an objection in the case to prevent the apex court from issuing any order without hearing it.
The hearing comes a day after the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday (January 14, 2026) disposed of a petition by the Trinamool Congress after the ED said it had not seized anything from the premises of I-PAC and Mr Jain. The ED accused Ms. Banerjee of removing records and equipment from the sites of the raids. The High Court, however, stayed the ED’s plea against the thwarting of its raids after SV Raju, Additional Solicitor General for the central agency, informed about a similar petition pending in the Supreme Court.
Ms Banerjee countered that the airstrikes were a deliberate attempt to derail the Trinamool Congress ahead of the 2026 assembly elections. The ruling party in the state has been consulting the firm for the past few years. The I-PAC helped the party shape its electoral and political strategy for the 2021 assembly elections and subsequent West Bengal elections.
The anti-money laundering agency argued that the chief minister’s intervention, on the contrary, undermined a legitimate investigation into coal smuggling. Crucial evidence, both physical and electronic, linked to the probe was removed and bulldozed in raids, which amounted to “gross obstruction of justice”.
The raid sites have been turned into venues of “reconciliation” by the illegal intervention of the state machinery, the ED said in its plea to the apex court.
The ED said the raid was linked to the investigation of a coal smuggling syndicate and entities linked to hawala money and was conducted strictly in accordance with the legal safeguards in place.
Published – 14 Jan 2026 17:18 IST
