Supreme Court calls alleged obstruction of central probe serious, issues notice to Mamata Banerjee

PTI, NEW DELHI, JAN 15, 2026: In a jolt to Mamata Banerjee, the Supreme Court on Thursday said the West Bengal chief minister’s alleged “obstruction” in the ED’s probe is “very serious” and agreed to examine if a state’s law-enforcing agencies can interfere with any Central agency’s investigation into any serious offence, as it stayed FIRs against the agency’s officials who raided political consultancy I-PAC on January 8.

The Enforcement Directorate has alleged interference and obstruction by the West Bengal government, including by Banerjee, in its probe and search operation at the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) office and the premises of its director, Pratik Jain, in connection with an alleged coal-pilferage scam.

The top court, while staying the FIRs filed in West Bengal against ED officials, also directed the state police to protect the CCTV footage of the raids.

A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul Pancholi issued notices to CM Banerjee, the West Bengal government, DGP Rajeev Kumar and top cops on the ED’s petitions seeking a CBI probe against them for allegedly obstructing raids at I-PAC premises.

“We are of the prima facie opinion that the present petition has raised a serious issue relating to the investigation by the ED or other Central agencies and its interference by State agencies. According to us, for furtherance of rule of law in the country, and to allow each organ to function independently, it is necessary to examine the issue so that the offenders are not allowed to be protected under the shield of the law-enforcement agencies of a particular state.

“Larger questions are involved in the present manner, which if allowed to remain undecided, would further worsen the situation and there will be a situation of lawlessness prevailing in one or the other state, considering that different outfits are governing different places,” the bench said in its order.

The apex court said a Central agency has no power to interfere with the election work of any party. But at the same time, if Central agencies are acting bona fide to investigate any serious offence, the question arises whether agencies can be restricted from carrying out duties under the shield of party activity, it said.

The matter is posted for further hearing on February 3.

Earlier in the day, the top court said that it was very much disturbed by the commotion at the Calcutta High Court during its hearing in the ED raids case.

The Calcutta High Court had adjourned till January 14 the hearing on petitions related to the ED’s search and seizure operations at sites linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC, citing unmanageable chaos inside the courtroom.