'Gross abuse of power' by Mamata Banerjee by barging into I-PAC raids ED tells SC

PTI, February 19, 2026, New Delhi :  The Enforcement Directorate has alleged "gross abuse of power" by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the state machinery by "illegally barging" into raids at the I-PAC office and the premises of its director in connection with an alleged coal pilferage scam.

The agency rejected the West Bengal government's submission that Banerjee and the police had intervened to prevent "armed persons impersonating officials of Central agencies" from conducting an unauthorised search.

The ED said its officials had duly displayed their ID cards during the January 8 raid and search authorisation to the police officers.

"The bare perusal of the facts would reveal gross abuse of power by the State machinery of the State of West Bengal. Senior officials of the State Police have colluded and obstructed the discharge of functions by officials of the ED under the PMLA, in the private interests of Mamta Banerjee the Chief Minister of the State of West Bengal,” the ED submitted in its rejoinder (reply) in the top court.

Rejecting the state government's claim that the case relates to federal relations and cannot be entertained, the ED said it is seeking an FIR against the "blatant abuse of power" by state functionaries and commission of offences by them.

The agency claimed that the police escorted Banerjee into the premises where an active search was going on and forcibly retrieved incriminating material.

"Individuals took away documents collected and indexed by the ED officers. The back-up process for the computer and email dump was also stopped midway. Ms. Banerjee, assisted by the State police officers, forcibly took away the computer installed in the premises.

"The State police on the instructions of Banerjee forcibly took away the mobile phones of the employees of M/s Indian PAC Consulting Pvt. Ltd., present at the premises. They took the laptop of the ED officer and a mobile phone of the officer and returned it after two hours. The taking of the laptop and mobile phone and keeping in their possession for two hours amounts to theft,” the agency said.

The federal probe agency said the CM entered the IPAC premises with her Z-plus security in "complete disregard of the lawful proceedings that were already underway."

"The heavy presence of police personnel to the tune of hundreds itself demonstrates coercion by the State Police and interference with lawful search under the PMLA by the ED officers…

"The manner of entry constituted a clear show of force and numerical strength, during which documents and incriminating material were forcibly taken over and removed from the premises, despite repeated requests by ED officers to refrain from doing so," the agency said.

It also refuted Banerjee's submission that the material taken by her only contained confidential and proprietary information of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

"Once such material has been forcibly retrieved and taken away, it becomes difficult to identify what all was taken away and determine whether or not they were only confidential and proprietary information of the party or whether they also contained information relating to the offence which was being investigated into by the ED,” the ED submitted.

The top court on January 15 said the West Bengal chief minister's alleged "obstruction" in ED's probe is "very serious" and agreed to examine if a state's law-enforcing agencies can interfere with any central agency's probe into any serious offence, as it stayed FIRs against the agency's officials who raided political consultancy I-PAC on January 8.

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.

It had issued notices to 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.

The ED has also alleged that Banerjee entered the raid sites and took away "key" evidence, including physical documents and electronic devices, from the premises of I-PAC and obstructed and interfered with the investigation in the case.

The ED has further claimed in its plea that the chief minister's presence at the search site and the alleged removal of documents had an intimidating effect on officers and seriously compromised the federal probe agency's ability to discharge its statutory functions independently.

The ED's plea in the apex court follows events from January 8, when the agency conducted searches on the premises of I-PAC and its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata as part of a money-laundering probe into the alleged multi-crore-rupee coal-pilferage scam.

During the search operation, Banerjee reached the I-PAC office along with senior TMC leaders, confronted the ED officials and allegedly took away documents from the premises. The chief minister has accused the central agency of overreach.

The West Bengal Police has also registered an FIR against the ED officers.

The TMC has denied the ED's allegation of obstruction and instead alleged that the ED action against I-PAC, the election consultant of the party, was aimed at accessing confidential election-strategy material.