Kolkata, Jan 23 (IANS) Enforcement Directorate (ED) Director Rahul Navin on Friday sought details of the bureaucrats and police officers of the West Bengal government who accompanied Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee when she visited two places where ED officials were conducting raid and search operations in connection with the alleged involvement of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) in a coal smuggling case earlier this month.
Navin, who has been in Kolkata on a three-day visit since Thursday evening, held a marathon meeting on Friday with ED officials attached to the agency’s Kolkata regional office to review the progress of ongoing investigations in several high-profile cases of alleged financial irregularities.
During the meeting, agency insiders said, Navin sought detailed information from the investigating officials whose simultaneous raid and search operations at I-PAC’s office in Salt Lake and the residence of I-PAC co-founder Pratik Jain in Loudon Street in central Kolkata on January 8 were allegedly interrupted by the Chief Minister and accompanying bureaucrats and police officers.
As the raid and search operations were underway at these two places on the morning of January 8, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accompanied by senior bureaucrats and police officers, visited both places one after another, the sources said. She left after taking away several files and electronic documents, they claimed.
I-PAC has been operating as the vote strategy agency for the Trinamool Congress since 2020.
At the review meeting on Friday, ED insiders said, Navin specifically questioned the investigating officials engaged in the raid and search operations about the conduct and body language of the bureaucrats and police officers who were present along with the Chief Minister during the alleged interruption.
Navin also reportedly enquired about the nature of the files and electronic documents that the Chief Minister’s accompanying team allegedly took away from the two locations.
The ED Director also reportedly interacted with the agency’s legal team in Kolkata in the matter.
–IANS
src/pgh