Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 12: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday filed a second writ petition before the Supreme Court, alleging “wrongful restriction and obstruction” of its officers during search operations at the Kolkata office of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its director last week.

The petition has been filed by ED Assistant Directors Nishant Kumar, Vikram Ahlawat and Prashant Chandila against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma and Deputy Commissioner Priyobtoto Roy.

The central probe agency alleged that its officials were illegally restrained while conducting searches on December 8 in connection with the alleged coal pilferage and smuggling scam. According to the ED, the search at the residence of Pratik Jain began at 6.20 am and was underway when the chief minister, along with senior police officials, allegedly “illegally and unauthorisedly barged into the premises”.

In its petition, accessed by NDTV, the ED claimed that after placing its officers under wrongful restraint, the state authorities took away all seized documents and digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, from the possession of ED officials and left the premises “with a trunk load of files”. The agency further alleged that the laptop of an ED officer was taken away and returned only after two hours, which it said also amounted to theft.

The petition stated that around 12.40 pm during the search proceedings, state police officials allegedly removed documents that had already been collected and indexed by ED officers. It also claimed that data backup from computer systems and email accounts was stopped midway, and that computer systems, CCTV storage devices and mobile phones of I-PAC employees present at the premises were taken away by the police.

“As a result of the above events, nothing was seized from the premises and no data backup could be taken by the Directorate of Enforcement,” the ED said in its 160-page plea.

The agency also informed the Supreme Court that the West Bengal Police registered four cases against ED officials on the same day following the high-voltage confrontation during the raids. The ED has sought a stay on these FIRs, arguing that they were intended to obstruct a lawful and independent investigation.

The raids were conducted at 10 locations — six in West Bengal and four in Delhi — as part of a 2020 case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into an alleged coal-smuggling syndicate led by Anup Majhi, alias ‘Lala’. The syndicate is accused of stealing and illegally excavating coal from Eastern Coalfields leasehold areas in and around Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district.

The ED has alleged that a hawala operator linked to the coal smuggling network facilitated transactions involving tens of crores of rupees to Indian PAC Consulting Private Limited, the registered company of I-PAC. The agency has further claimed that I-PAC is among the entities linked to hawala money in the case.