I-PAC raids case: SC reserves verdict on ED plea for CBI probe into Mamata Banerjee’s conduct

Mamata Banerjee had countered that the raids were a deliberate attempt to derail the Trinamool Congress ahead of the Assembly election in 2026. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Supreme Court on Thursday (October 29, 2026) reserved judgment in a petition filed by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged obstruction of its raids at the offices of political consultancy firm I-PAC and its co-founder Pratik Jain in Kolkata by then West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, State officials and other individuals.

A Bench headed by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra closed the final arguments in the case even as senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Ms. Banerjee, said power in West Bengal had changed hands. The current dispensation could very well, and on its own, take a call on whether or not to transfer the case to the CBI, Mr. Sibal said.

The ED had arraigned the State of West Bengal, Ms. Banerjee, the State’s Director General of Police, the Kolkata Police Commissioner, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police South Kolkata along with the CBI.

The ED had blamed Ms. Banerjee for removing records and devices from the sites of the raids.

Ms. Banerjee had at the time countered that the raids were a deliberate attempt to derail the Trinamool Congress ahead of the Assembly election in 2026. The ruling party in the State had consulted with the firm over the past few years. I-PAC had helped the party shape its electoral and political strategy in the 2021 Assembly election and subsequent elections in West Bengal.

The anti-money laundering agency had argued that the intervention of Ms. Banerjee, on the other hand, had upset a lawful investigation into coal smuggling. Vital evidence, both physical and electronic, connected to the probe had been removed, and the raids bulldozed, amounting to a “gross obstruction of justice”.

The sites of the raids had descended into scenes of a “showdown” through the illegal intervention of the State machinery, the ED has submitted in its petition before the apex court.

The raid was connected to a probe into a coal smuggling syndicate and entities linked to hawala money, the ED had said, and it had been conducted strictly in accordance with established legal safeguards.

Published - October 29, 2026 04:52 pm IST