Calcutta HC adjourns ED raids hearing due to court chaos

KOLKATA: Aftershocks of the showdown between Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee over raids on Trinamool-linked political consultancy I-PAC jolted Calcutta high court Friday, prompting Justice Suvra Ghosh to postpone hearing petitions filed by either side till Jan 14 on grounds of "enormous disturbance and commotion" in the courtroom.

The judge, seemingly annoyed at her repeated pleas for "order" being ignored by lawyers and apprentices seeking to outshout each other, walked out of the courtroom after quickly announcing the forced adjournment.




Justice Ghosh specified in her order that she would have heard both petitions as scheduled had a large gathering of lawyers and others not entered the courtroom and caused a ruckus. "Several requests made by the court to maintain decorum and dignity fell on deaf ears. The environment in the courtroom is not conducive to commence/continue with the hearing," she said.

'I cannot hear anything': Judge said, leading to adjournment

Enforcement Directorate, the first mover in the legal battle over Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's alleged interference in the probe against I-PAC, immediately approached acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul for an urgent hearing. The plea was turned down. Acting CJ Paul told the agency's counsel Dhiraj Trivedi that there was no justification in pushing for an urgent hearing after the judge assigned to take up its petition had fixed a date.

The face-off between ED and Mamata started Thursday afternoon after she drove to the Loudon Street residence of I-PAC director Pratik Jain when the agency was searching the premises for evidence linked to an investigation in a 2020 money laundering case. The CM next went to I-PAC's office in Salt Lake's Sector V, staying put for almost four hours and allegedly taking away sheaves of documents and storage devices that she claimed contained TMC's election strategy.

Besides Mamata, ED's petition accuses DGP Rajeev Kumar and Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Varma of "theft of digital devices and other evidence, and wrongful restraint and confinement of central govt officers". Mamata's petition against ED alleges that the central agency was doing BJP's bidding and targeting I-PAC addresses to "snatch" Trinamool-specific and other data pertaining to the upcoming assembly elections.

Friday's hearing was scheduled for 2.30pm, but the crowd in court no. 5 started to swell after the lunch break ended at 2pm. ED counsel Trivedi and Trinamool's Kalyan Banerjee complained that they were finding it impossible to reach the bench to argue their cases. "Anyone not associated with the case, please leave," Justice Ghosh pleaded.

After 15 minutes of chaos, HC officials and a Kolkata Police officer posted outside the courtroom managed to clear a section of the crowd, but the commotion refused to die down. "I cannot hear anything," Justice Ghosh declared, leading to the adjournment.


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