West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday landed at the residence of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain during searches by the ED and claimed that the central
agency was attempting to seize the TMC's internal documents, hard disks, and sensitive digital data. Banerjee reached Jain's house around noon, minutes after Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma arrived there, and stayed for about 20-25 minutes before emerging with a green folder in her hand. She said the raid at the residence of Jain, "the in-charge of my IT cell", was politically motivated and unconstitutional. "ED raided my IT sector (cell) office, and searched the residence of the in-charge of my IT sector (cell). They were confiscating my party's documents and hard disks, which has details about our party candidates for assembly polls. I have brought those back," Banerjee told reporters. She accused the ED of trying to take away hard disks, mobile phones, candidate lists and internal strategy documents of the ruling party. "Is it the duty of the ED to collect political party data?" the CM asked. Apart from political consultancy for the TMC, I-PAC also looks after the IT and media cell of the party.
Banerjee attacks Amit Shah for 'political vendetta'
Launching a blistering attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Banerjee described the searches as "political vendetta" and said constitutional agencies were being misused to intimidate opposition parties.
"This is not law enforcement, this is political vendetta. The home minister is behaving like the nastiest home minister, not someone who protects the country," she alleged.
Search operations have also been underway since morning at the office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), the consultancy firm headed by Jain.
Pointing to the file she carried while exiting the house, Banerjee claimed ED officials were walking away with documents and had even attempted to take a laptop.
She also alleged that central agencies were selectively collecting political information, while names of over 15 lakh people from West Bengal had been deleted from electoral rolls without adequate explanation.
Also Read: 'SIR Means Doom': Mamata Banerjee Levels Explosive Charge, Claims BJP 'Used AI' To Wipe Out 54 Lakh Voters
What has the ED said?
Issuing a statement, the ED clarified that the searches are evidence-based and not targeted at any political establishment.
"Search is ongoing at 10 places (6 in West Bengal and 4 in Delhi). The case relates to illegal coal smuggling. The search covers various premises linked to generation of cash, hawala transfer etc. in that case," the ED said, asserting that neither was a political party being targeted nor a party office being searched.
It also mentioned that the searches were a part of a regular crackdown on money laundering and not linked to any elections.
"The search is conducted strictly in accordance with established legal safeguards. Certain persons including constitutional functionaries have come to 2 premises (out of 10), intruded illegally by misusing their position and snatched away the documents," it said.
(With PTI inputs)
