ED Urges I-PAC Raid Case Hearing To Be Held in Supreme Court, Not Calcutta HC

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday asked for the I-PAC raid case to be adjourned at the Calcutta High Court, citing that it should now be under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. This request came while the Calcutta High Court was hearing the petitions filed by the ED and the Trinamool Congress(TMC) today, a few days after ED sought the apex court's intervention in the matter.

The petitions were filed by both parties on the raids conducted by the probe agency at the house of IPAC chief Prateek Jain and the office of the political consultancy as a part of a money laundering probe into an alleged multi-crore rupee coal pilferage scam, which took place last Thursday. 

The Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG) S.V. Raju appeared for ED, while Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy represented the government of West Bengal. ED further questioned the interim relief sought by the TMC. 

Following the raids, ED moved the Calcutta High Court, alleging that the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee and the police had tried to intervene, hindering the raid, and tampering with evidence. The TMC also moved the court, alleging that the agency had taken their party’s documents, which were supposed to be confidential.

Also read: ED Moves Supreme Court, Accuses West Bengal CM, Top Cops Of Obstructing Search, Seeks CBI Probe