West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suddenly shows up at a guy’s house while ED officials are raiding it, grabs some files, and storms out fuming.
What Sparked All This Chaos?
It started like a regular morning for the Enforcement Directorate. They kicked off raids at the fancy Loudon Street home of Pratik Jain (he’s the co-founder and boss of I-PAC, that big political consultancy firm started by Prashant Kishor) and their office in Salt Lake. The ED says it’s all tied to an old money laundering case linked to a massive coal scam – nothing political, just following leads on funny money possibly flowing to I-PAC for some election work back in the day.
Everything was calm and professional, according to the ED, until around noon. That’s when Mamata rolls up with a bunch of cops and her team. She heads straight into Jain’s house, and later the office too. The ED claims she and her crew basically snatched key stuff – documents, laptops, phones – right out from under their noses. They called it “forcible removal” and even said it messed up their investigation big time.
Mamata’s Side of the Story
Mamata wasn’t having any of it. She was furious, saying the ED was on a fishing expedition to steal Trinamool Congress secrets – like their election plans, candidate lists, and strategy for the 2026 polls. She came out holding a big green file (pics went viral), blasting the raids as pure political revenge from the Centre.
And then she dropped this zinger about Union Home Minister Amit Shah: “The nasty, naughty Home Minister who can’t even protect the country is busy taking away my party documents.” Ouch! She basically accused him of using agencies like the ED to bully Bengal ahead of elections.
Straight to the Courts
Things heated up fast. The ED rushed to the Calcutta High Court that same day, complaining about “obstruction” and asking for help to protect their probe. I-PAC and Pratik Jain fired back with their own petitions, calling the raids illegal and over the top. Even Trinamool Congress jumped in with a counter-claim. The court’s set to hear all this mess – three cases together – on January 9, with Justice Suvra Ghosh on the bench.
Meanwhile, Mamata led protests on the streets to the next day, and her party folks are rallying hard. The BJP, of course, is slamming her for interfering in central agency work.
Why Does This Feel Like a Bigger Fight?
Look, this isn’t just about one raid. It’s the classic Centre vs State showdown in Bengal – federal agencies vs Mamata’s government. With assembly elections coming up soon, everyone’s seeing it as pre-poll gamesmanship. Will the court side with the ED’s right to investigate freely, or call out any overreach?
Whatever happens next in court, this one’s gonna keep the political pot boiling in Kolkata for a while.
Sources: Based on reports from The Hindu, India Today, Times of India, Hindustan Times, Business Standard, NDTV, The Indian Express
