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Kolkata, 9 January. The conflict in political and administrative circles has reached its peak after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on the residence and office of Prateek Jain, director of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), an organization doing political and election management work for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal.

Following the ED raid, TMC along with ED and I-PAC had filed petitions against each other in the Kolkata High Court on Thursday. Hearing in this case was to be held this afternoon. But even before the hearing of the case, the judge became angry with the excessive crowd in the court and left the bench. Ultimately the hearing of the case was postponed.

Hearing was to be held at 2.30 pm

As soon as the hearing was about to begin at Justice Shubhra Ghosh’s bench at around 2.30 pm, a huge crowd of lawyers and interns gathered there. The situation was such that there was no space left even to set foot. Seeing the crowd, Justice Ghosh asked those lawyers and interns who were not associated with the case to leave. She gave five minutes time and warned that if the crowd did not subside then she would not hold the hearing.

TMC MP and lawyer Kalyan Banerjee also appealed to the people to go out, but a scuffle and argument broke out between the lawyers. Angered by the chaos, Justice Ghosh adjourned the hearing.

Protest march against CM Mamta begins

Meanwhile, CM Mamata Banerjee has started protests in Kolkata against the ED raid on I-PAC. On his call, protests are continuing in many places including Delhi. CM Mamata herself reached the spot in Kolkata from where she led the march against the ED’s I-PACK raid. The CM led the protesters on the road and accused the BJP government of excesses. He said that as the elections approach, the government is using agencies in the name of corruption.

8 TMC MPs detained during protest in Delhi

Meanwhile, some Trinamool Congress MPs protested strongly outside the Union Home Ministry in Delhi in the morning against the ED raid. Later the police detained eight protesting Trinamool MPs. Party MPs O’Brien, Shatabdi Roy, Mahua Moitra, Bapi Halder, Saket Gokhale, Pratima Mandal, Kirti Azad and Sharmila Sarkar were among those who took part in the protest. TMC leaders shared pictures of MPs being forcibly removed from the protest site by Delhi Police and strongly criticized the central government.

It is noteworthy that ED raided the house and office of I-PAC Director Prateek Jain on Thursday. During the ED action, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached both the places and left from there taking a file and laptop with herself.

TMC alleged that central agencies are trying to get their hands on the party’s strategic documents and data before the elections. At the same time, ED accused Mamata of obstructing the investigation and forcibly snatching documents and digital evidence during the raid. ED approached the High Court regarding this. On the other hand, Trinamool along with I-Pac had also reached the High Court opposing the ED action.

ED allegation

The central agency has filed a petition in the High Court claiming that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee obstructed the investigation by reaching the spot during the raid. The CM brought the police force with her and forcibly took away many important files, documents and laptops from there.

On the other hand, Trinamool Congress has filed a petition against the central government. TMC says that this raid has been done deliberately to steal the party’s strategies before the elections. Mamata Banerjee has called it ‘political vendetta’.

Center and ED’s lawyer claims mobile hacked

Meanwhile, before the hearing, another shocking incident happened. Centre’s Deputy Solicitor General and ED counsel Dhiraj Trivedi told the court that his mobile phone was hacked at around 1.30 pm. He informed this to Justice Ghosh and told that he is in touch with the ED headquarters in Delhi and the Central Government in this regard.