Delhi/Hyderabad, April 22 (Maxim News): The Supreme Court on Wednesday made key observations on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s intervention during the ED raids on political consultancy I-PAC in Kolkata earlier this year. It said it was not right for the Chief Minister to interfere in the middle of the investigation and put democracy at risk. The Supreme Court’s latest remarks assume significance as the first phase of polling for the West Bengal Assembly elections is scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
As part of the money laundering investigation, the ED raided the office of I-PAC in January last year. Mamata Banerjee, who came to know about the matter, reached there and tried to stop the raids. A high drama took place when Prateek Jain took a laptop, phone and several files from his residence and left. Mamata Banerjee has criticized the ED raids as unconstitutional. She alleged that these raids were carried out with political malice and that they were being conducted to know her party’s political strategy, candidate list and confidential information during the assembly elections. She said that the ED officials were trying to seize the TMC party’s hard disk. The ED has criticized Mamata Banerjee’s actions. It has accused the Chief Minister of misusing her power. It has approached the Supreme Court seeking an order for a CBI investigation against Mamata Banerjee and other officials.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices PK Mishra and NV Anjaria is currently hearing the matter. The bench said that Mamata Banerjee’s action is unacceptable. ‘This is not a dispute between the state and the Centre. No state Chief Minister should interfere in the middle of the proceedings and endanger the public interest. It is not right to portray this as a Centre-State dispute,’ the bench said. The bench said that even legal scholars like HM Seervai and BR Ambedkar would not have imagined that a sitting Chief Minister would intervene in the middle of the proceedings in this country. (Maxim News)



