The Supreme Court on Tuesday postponed the hearing to February 18 on a plea from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleging that the West Bengal government obstructed its search operation at the I-PAC office and the home of its director as part of an alleged coal pilferage scam.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Sandeep Mehta delayed the matter after learning that senior advocate Kapil Sibal was unwell. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta consented to the adjournment.
State registers FIR against ED officers
The West Bengal Police has registered an FIR against ED officers and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has rejected the ED's claim of obstruction.
Also Read | No voter to be removed for minor mistakes, says Supreme Court; appeals allowed within 10 days
It has also claimed that the ED's actions against I-PAC, the party's election consultant, were meant to access confidential election strategy materials. The party insists that I-PAC serves as its election strategist and that the ED's actions aimed to disrupt its election preparations instead of conducting a genuine investigation.
Earlier judgement
The top court said on January 15 that the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's alleged obstruction in the ED's investigation is "very serious". It agreed to look into whether a state's law enforcement can interfere with a Central agency's investigation into serious offenses.
The court stayed the FIRs against the agency's officials who raided the political consultancy I-PAC on January 8.
While staying the FIRs, the court had 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 other senior officers regarding the ED's petitions. The petitions seek a CBI probe against them for allegedly obstructing the raids at I-PAC's premises.
Also Read | Kolkata Metro launches suicide prevention audio message across Blue line corridor
The ED has alleged that Banerjee entered the raid sites and took away important evidence, including physical documents and electronic devices, from I-PAC. This act obstructed and interfered with the investigation.
The ED further claimed in its petition that the Chief Minister's presence at the search site and the alleged removal of documents intimidated officers. This seriously affected the federal probe agency's ability to carry out its functions independently.
