I-PAC row: Mamata Banerjee files multiple FIRs against ED in Kolkata, Salt Lake

Kolkata: TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Friday lodged dual complaints against the ED in connection with the agency's raids at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its chief Prateek Jain here.

Based on the complaints, the Kolkata and Bidhannagar Police filed FIRs and initiated an investigation, an officer said.

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The complaints, coupled with the TMC's petition in the Calcutta High Court against the ED, is believed to have taken the confrontation between the two sides a notch higher, after Kolkata witnessed dramatic scenes of the chief minister landing up at the search operation venues and allegedly removing "key documents" and electronic devices from the sites.

Banerjee lodged her complaints against unknown ED officials and CRPF personnel at the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station, and against unknown ED sleuths at the Electronic Complex PS under the Bidhannagar Police, in connection with the agency's raids at Jain's Loudon Street residence and his Salt Lake office, respectively, on Thursday.

Cases at the Shakespeare Sarani PS were lodged under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) pertaining to criminal intimidation, theft and criminal trespass, as well as under Section 66 of the IT Act, which deals with computer- related offences, criminalising dishonest or fraudulent acts like unauthorised access or data damage, the police officer said.

Besides, police also lodged a suo motu case at the same PS against the agency late on Thursday evening.

Shibaditya Pal, the additional OC (in-charge) of the Shakespeare Sarani PS, has been tasked with heading the investigation.

A similar case has also been initiated against the ED at the Electronic Complex PS in Salt Lake in connection with the chief minister's complaint, police said.

On Friday, the TMC moved the Calcutta High Court against the agency's raids seeking restraint on "misuse and dissemination" of documents seized during the search operations.

The ruling party in West Bengal, in its petition, alleged that the ED seized sensitive and confidential political data meant for the TMC's use in the upcoming assembly elections, in a display of "arbitrary, mala fide, and colourable exercise of power".

The ED, which maintained that the searches were part of a money laundering probe into an alleged multi-crore rupee coal pilferage scam, has, on the other hand, accused Banerjee of obstructing a lawful investigation, and claimed that she and the state police forcibly removed "key evidence" during the raids.

The central agency has also moved the high court, alleging interference in its investigation and prayed for transferring of the probe into Thursday's developments to the CBI.