ED Raids I-PAC’s Pratik Jain In Kolkata: ‘Fuming’ Mamata Banerjee Rushes To 'Secure TMC Files’ At Salt Lake Office

Kolkata: A special unit of Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted raids at multiple locations including a premises linked to the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) in Kolkata as part of a nationwide crackdown in a fake government job scam and alleged money laundering case.

The ED carried out searches at around 15 locations across India, targeting an organised gang accused of cheating people by promising fake government jobs. As part of the operation, the I-PAC office in Kolkata and the residence of IPAC co-founder Pratik Jain were searched.

Soon after news of the raids emerged, a visibly fuming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, along with West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) Rajiv Kumar and Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma, arrived at Pratik Jain’s residence in Kolkata, brushing aside reporters’ microphones and refusing to take questions. 

Fuming Mamata At Pratik Jain's Residence

Speaking to the media, CM Mamata Banerjee alleged that ‘Trinamool Congress party documents’ were taken away during the raids. She further claimed that details related to TMC party candidates had been seized by the central agency. The Chief Minister accused the ED of targeting her party ahead of the elections and called the action politically motivated.

"Is it the duty of the ED, Amit Shah to collect the party's hard disk, candidate list, party strategy, party plan? The nasty, naughty Home Minister who cannot protect the country and is taking away all my party documents. What will be the result if I raid the BJP party office? On one side, they are deleting the names of all the voters by carrying out the SIR in West Bengal. Because of the elections, they are collecting all the information about my party..." the angry and fuming Mamata Banerjee told media as she came out of IPAC co-founder Pratik Jain's residence with a hard disk and file containing documents related to TMC party activities. 

High Drama in Salt Lake

High drama also unfolded at I-PAC's Salt Lake office. Amid ongoing ED raids, Mamata Banerjee arrived at the I-PAC corporate office at Sector V. In a swift move, Kolkata Police personnel were seen transferring several files with documents from the I-PAC office directly into the Chief Minister’s vehicle.

I-PAC has been associated with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) since 2019 as its political strategy organisation. 

TMC Calls ED Raids ‘Politically Motivated’

The Trinamool Congress party in its statement condemned the ED raids calling it a ‘deliberate and politically motivated’ conspiracy orchestrated by the BJP to destabilise West Bengal through unethical means. 

“Unable to fight democratically, the BJP is now using the ED as a weapon, trying to forcibly seize party documents, internal strategies, candidate-related details, and crucial papers,” the TMC statement read.

TMC also claimed that the Thursday raids on I-PAC was part of a larger conspiracy which was orchestrated with the instructions of an ‘authoritarian Home Minister’

“Hon’ble Chairperson Mamata Banerjee has made it absolutely clear, that this conspiracy will be resisted at every step and will never be allowed to succeed,” the statement further read.

Mamata Sharpens Attack On EC

Earlier on January 5, Mamata Banerjee launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging large-scale harassment of voters and warning that her government would take legal steps, including approaching the Supreme Court, to protect people's rights.

Addressing a public meeting at Gangasagar in South 24 Parganas district, Mamata claimed that around 54 lakh names had been deleted from the voter lists in the district alone. She alleged that Artificial Intelligence was being misused to remove names and accused the Election Commission of functioning like a ‘WhatsApp Commission’. 

In a direct personal jibe, the Chief Minister referred to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as ‘Vanish Kumar’, warning that if people's rights were made to ‘vanish’, those responsible would face consequences. She asserted that there would be ‘no detention camps in West Bengal’ and said she would challenge any such move legally.

(With ANI inputs)