'Coal scam money trail leads to Amit Shah through BJP leaders': Mamata takes fight to streets as I-PAC row heats up

The ED, on the other hand, moved the Calcutta High Court, seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Banerjee.

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged that the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, had benefitted from the same coal scam that the Enforcement Directorate had sought to link with the I-PAC, the political consultancy firm hired by her Trinamool Congress.

A day after she stormed into the I-PAC’s office and the residence of its director, Pratik Jain, in the midst of raids by the ED in both locations, Mamata hit the streets and led a TMC protest march against the misuse of the central agencies by the BJP-led Union government against the opposition parties. She not only lodged complaints with the police against the ED officials and the paramilitary force personnel over the raids conducted on the I-PAC by the central agency but also sought to turn the tables on the BJP over corruption.

The ED, on the other hand, moved the Calcutta High Court, seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging that she, with the aid of the police, took away incriminating documents from the custody of its probe officials during the raids.

“They talk about coal scam money. But who does take the coal money? How is it taken? It goes through the traitors. Jagannath to Suvendu to Amit Shah, this is the chain,” Mamata alleged while addressing a rally at the end of the 10-km-long protest march in Kolkata. “I have all the proof on pen drives. I will release it when the time comes.”

Jagannath Sarkar is a BJP member in the Lok Sabha, while Suvendu Adhikari, who quit the TMC to join the saffron party in 2020, is now the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal legislative assembly as well as a frontrunner for the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the state elections, scheduled to be held by April-May this year.

The ED on Thursday conducted raids at 10 premises, six in West Bengal and four in Delhi, in connection with a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against a coal smuggling syndicate, which used to steal and illegally excavate coal from areas leased to Eastern Coalfield Limited of West Bengal. The ED alleged that a hawala operator linked to the layering of proceeds of crime of coal smuggling had facilitated transactions of Tens of Crores of Rupees to the I-PAC.

The I-PAC has been working for the TMC since 2019 and played a key role in planning the party’s campaign strategy for the assembly and parliamentary elections in 2021 and 2024. The company is now preparing the party’s campaign plan for the next assembly polls.

Mamata had on Thursday stormed into the residence of Jain, the director of the I-PAC, and the office of the consultancy firm, and left with files and electronic devices, even while the ED officials were continuing searches in both locations. The ED moved the Calcutta High Court, alleging that the chief minister, as well as police officers and other bureaucrats of the state government, who had accompanied her, had taken away documents and electronic evidence.

“What I did yesterday, I did as the TMC chairperson. I have done nothing illegal,” Mamata said on Friday, adding: “If someone tries to kill me, don't I have the right to defend myself? If my party doesn't exist, how will I fight for the people?”

She reiterated her allegation that the ED had raided Jain’s residence and the I-PAC office to take away documents related to the TMC’s strategy for the forthcoming state assembly elections. “I first thought they had come to ask or check something. Then I realised they are taking away our party's documents and strategy details. That is why I rushed there,” she said.

The TMC supremo also alleged that the BJP and the government led by the saffron party at the Centre had brought all the agencies like the ED and the CBI under its control and had been misusing them against the political opponents. She alleged that the BJP had manipulated its way to power in Maharashtra, Haryana and Bihar.

She wondered if the BJP leaders were thinking that they could capture West Bengal too in a similar way. “If someone tries to hit me politically, I get politically rejuvenated and reborn," she said during the rally.

With the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in West Bengal continuing, Mamata also targeted the Election Commission, accusing it of acting at the behest of the BJP, which was planning to steal the mandate in the state, just as it had done with the help of the poll panel in Maharashtra. “If voters are made to vanish, I will protest,” said the chief minister, criticising the EC for summoning elderly voters for hearings under the SIR. "You call 90-year-olds for verification; do you have no shame?" she said.

As the chaos inside the courtroom could not be controlled, Justice Suvra Ghosh of the Calcutta High Court on Friday adjourned till January 14 the hearing of the cases related to ED’s plea against the chief minister for her alleged interference during the raids at the I-PAC's office and its chief’s residence. The TMC had also filed a petition to the High Court over the ED’s raids on the political consultancy firm. The I-PAC had also moved the court.

Not only in Kolkata, but the TMC units across West Bengal resorted to protests against the misuse of the central agencies by the BJP.

As the chaos inside the courtroom could not be controlled, Justice Suvra Ghosh of the Calcutta High Court on Friday adjourned the hearing of the cases related to ED’s plea against the chief minister for her alleged interference during the raids at the I-PAC's office and its chief’s residence. The TMC had also filed a petition to the High Court over the ED’s raids on the political consultancy firm.