NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has alleged "gross abuse of power" by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the state machinery by "illegally barging" into raids at the I-PAC office and the premises of its director in its counter affidavit filed in the Supreme Court (SC).
"The bare perusal of the facts would reveal gross abuse of power by the State machinery of the State of West Bengal. Senior officials of the State Police have colluded and obstructed the discharge of functions by officials of the ED under the PMLA, in the private interests of Mamta Banerjee the Chief Minister of the State of West Bengal," the ED submitted in its rejoinder (reply) in the top court.
The central probe agency further added that in a case like the investigation of the alleged laundering of proceeds of illegal mining, the victim is the public as a whole since natural resources are public assets.
Hence, the victim in the present case is the general public has the fundamental right to a fair investigation into the offence in accordance with the law.
The probe agency further alleged that it was most unusual for officials of the rank of Commissioner of Police of a major city and the DGP of a State Police to visit the site of a search being conducted by a Central agency, obstruct the discharge of functions and aid and assist in the forcible removal of evidence at the instance of the Chief Minister.
"It is the abuse of power and legal authority by officials and functionaries of the State of West Bengal is writ large in the facts and circumstances of the present case," the agency contended.
Narrating the chain of events and the alleged role of senior police officials and the CM, the ED said, due to these shocking events, the present Petition was filed seeking several reliefs including a direction to the Central Bureau of investigation to register an FIR and probe the entire incident in relation to the obstruction of the ED's searches conducted on January 08.
The agency, while rejecting the state government's submission that Banerjee and the police had intervened to prevent "armed persons impersonating officials of Central agencies" from conducting an unauthorised search, said its officials had duly displayed their ID cards during the January 8 raid and search authorisation to the police officers.
The ED said individuals took away documents collected and indexed by its officers. The back-up process for the computer and email dump was also stopped midway.
“The State police on the instructions of Banerjee forcibly took away the mobile phones of the employees of M/s Indian PAC Consulting Pvt. Ltd., present at the premises. They took the laptop of the ED officer and a mobile phone of the officer and returned it after two hours. The taking of the laptop and mobile phone and keeping in their possession for two hours amounts to theft,” the agency said.
The federal probe agency in the counter affidavit said the CM entered the IPAC premises with her Z-plus security in “complete disregard of the lawful proceedings that were already underway.”
“The manner of entry constituted a clear show of force and numerical strength, during which documents and incriminating material were forcibly taken over and removed from the premises, despite repeated requests by ED officers to refrain from doing so,” the agency said.
The agency also rejected Banerjee’s submission that the material taken by her only contained confidential and proprietary information of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).