‘Robbery, Threat, Dacoity…’ Mamata and ED lawyers expose each other in Supreme Court on I-PAC raid case

I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee) A vigorous debate was witnessed in the Supreme Court today regarding the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on the Kolkata office of . Inside the courtroom, the allegations and counter-allegations between the lawyers of ED and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remained so sharp that the court had to intervene and advise to maintain peace.

In this high-profile hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared on behalf of ED, while senior advocate Kapil Sibal appeared on behalf of Mamata Banerjee and TMC. Abhishek Manu Singhvi took charge from I-PAC’s side. The focal point of the debate was the issue of Chief Minister’s presence in the ED raid, election time and the alleged uproar in the High Court.

Who appeared in the Supreme Court

• On behalf of ED- Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, ASG S. Raju
• On behalf of Mamata Banerjee and West Bengal DGP: Kapil Sibal, Kalyan Banerjee
• On behalf of I-PAC: Abhishek Manu Singhvi

SG Tushar Mehta’s arguments: ‘This is not democracy, it is mobocracy’

Arguing on the ED petition, SG Tushar Mehta alleged that this is not the first time that investigative agencies have been prevented from working in West Bengal. He said that earlier also CBI officers were taken to the police station despite the order of the Supreme Court. SG Mehta told the court that during the ED raid, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself reached the spot along with the entire police force and sat on strike, thereby preventing the officers from performing their duty. He raised the question – ‘I don’t know what there was to hide that the Chief Minister himself had to intervene.’

He also mentioned the alleged uproar in the High Court and said that a large number of lawyers and people entered the courtroom, due to which the atmosphere of the hearing was spoiled. According to SG, this situation was like “mobocracy”.

Mention of uproar in High Court, Supreme Court interrupted

SG Mehta and Kapil Sibal both said that they themselves were present in the Kolkata High Court that day. On this, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra had to intervene and said, ‘At least do not create ruckus here.’ SG claimed that he has WhatsApp chats in which people were instructed by the legal cell of the ruling party to reach the court. ‘Everyone come.’ On this the court commented that it seems like a call like Jantar Mantar.

ED claims: Buses were deployed, mic was muted

SG Mehta alleged that buses and vehicles were arranged to bring people. He said that the hearing was live, but the mike was being muted again and again and the ED faced huge problems. He also said that ED does not work for any personal purpose and till now an amount of more than Rs 30 thousand crore has been returned to the crime victims.

ED’s argument on I-PAC raid: ‘No question of taking SIR data’

On Justice Mishra’s question, SG Mehta said that the claim that ED had gone only to collect SIR data is completely wrong. ‘No fool would go there to collect the data present on the website.’ Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of Mamata Banerjee, termed ED’s action as malicious. He said that I-PAC is an agency related to election management and its office is part of the TMC office. In such a situation, it is natural for the party’s sensitive election data to be present there. Sibal raised the question – ‘When no statement was recorded after 24 February 2024, then why did ED suddenly become so active in the midst of elections?’ He argued that if ED had got the election data, how would the party have fought the elections.

‘Panchnama against ED’s claims’

Kapil Sibal, while showing the Panchnama in the court, said that no seizure was made till 12:05 pm. He clarified that the Chief Minister took only Prateek Jain’s laptop (which contained election data) and his personal iPhone, nothing else. Sibal insisted that “there was no obstruction, it has been signed by the ED itself. The allegations in the petition do not match with the Panchnama.”

Singhvi from I-PAC: Question on maintainability of petition

Abhishek Manu Singhvi raised serious questions on the maintainability of the ED petition. He said that during the ongoing hearing in the High Court, the investigating agency itself had said that the case was pending in the Supreme Court. ASG S. Describing the matter as very serious, Raju demanded a CBI investigation. Words like “robbery, threat and dacoity” were used by ED. Finally the Supreme Court said that this is a serious matter and a notice will be issued. The court also said that it is distressed that the High Court was not allowed to hear the matter.