Is this the ED's work? Searches at I-PAC office & director's home; West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee follows with DGP, CP in tow

KOLKATA: The ED on Thursday conducted searches at political consultancy firm I-PAC's office in Salt Lake and its director's Loudon Street home in connection with a five-year-old case, prompting CM Mamata Banerjee to call it political vendetta and "a crime" and dub Union home minister Amit Shah "nasty and naughty".

Banerjee, who trailed the ED teams throughout the day with director-general of police Rajeev Kumar and Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Varma in tow (in Salt Lake and Loudon Street, respectively), accused the ED of "snatching the party's poll strategy and candidate list" and Shah of masterminding the operation.




The searches began early, with ED officials splitting into three groups and reaching I-PAC director Pratik Jain's Loudon Street apartment and its Sector V office and a businessman's home in Posta between 6.05am and 6.30am. Only two employees were at the I-PAC office while Jain was at home.

CM Banerjee later said she realised something was amiss when she was unable to reach Jain by phone. KP commissioner Varma and other senior cops reached his Loudon Street residence between 10.30am and 11.30am to "verify the credentials" of ED officials.

Banerjee arrived there around noon and stayed for seven minutes before leaving with a green folder, a hard drive and a mobile phone. "Amit Shah has sent ED to snatch our party's poll strategy and candidate list. Is this the ED's work?" she asked. "They searched our IT cell office and the house of our IT cell-in-charge to collect hard disks and documents having our poll strategies. The candidate list, party strategy, everything is here. The nasty, naughty home minister, who cannot protect the country, is trying to take away our party papers to win the election. What will happen if I raid BJP office?" Banerjee asked, questioning the timing and intent of the searches, before heading for I-PAC's Sector V office.

The ED search at this 11th-floor office at Godrej Waterside building started at 6.05am with the confiscation of two staffers' phones. Banerjee reached around 12.45pm and, a little later, cops were seen carrying bundles of documents out of the office and putting them in a car in the basement over the next half-an-hour.

'Why take away our party documents before election?'

The ED's forensic team transferred data relating to polls and SIR from our offices when no one was there. They have taken our hard disks and papers. It is my duty to check on my people when they are in trouble. We are sober, cultured people. But that is not our weakness. I will not tolerate our stuff being snatched away," Mamata Banerjee said.

"I sometimes call Pratik or others for party matters. I was not aware of the issue initially. I called (this morning) but he didn't respond. Later, I learnt that the ED had taken his phone. I then thought they had probably taken away all our strategy documents and plans. That was when I decided to go there," she said outside the Sector V office.

"Shah should fight the polls democratically if he wants to win. Why raid our party's IT office and snatch our documents? We get notices whenever elections approach. Notices are not sent to the BJP, which has all the money and muscle power," Banerjee said.

DGP Kumar reached the Sector V office a little later with other senior cops as security was stepped up following the arrival of Trinamool workers in droves, many of them led by state fire services minister Sujit Bose and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation mayor Krishna Chakraborty. The ED, too, had to requisition additional CRPF personnel even as Bidhannagar Police tightened the security cordon around the complex.

The CM remained at the Sector V office for nearly four hours and left around 4.20 pm after ED officials concluded their search at Jain's Loudon Street home and allowed him and his family free movement. They reached the Sector V office around 3.30 pm, escorted by a KP team.

TMC seniors said Banerjee spoke to Jain for about 45 minutes before leaving for another programme at the Gangasagar transit camp in the Maidan. The ED team left the Sector V office at 5.20 pm, following which I-PAC employees were allowed to enter the office.