Overview
- Details of the ED’s petition filed on Monday say the agency seeks CBI registration of cases against the chief minister, the state DGP and the Kolkata police commissioner for allegedly snatching digital evidence, removing files and wrongfully confining officers during January 8 searches.
- The West Bengal government has lodged a caveat in the Supreme Court to ensure it is heard before any interim order is passed.
- After crowded proceedings in the Calcutta High Court, the matter there stands adjourned to January 14, prompting the ED to move the apex court under Article 32 for urgent relief.
- Kolkata and Bidhannagar police have registered FIRs against ED personnel and are collecting materials such as CCTV footage and a visitor register from Pratik Jain’s residence as part of their probe.
- TMC and I-PAC deny the ED’s allegations, calling the action politically driven and asserting that material at issue relates to confidential election strategy outside the PMLA’s scope, while the ED links the searches to a coal-smuggling money-laundering investigation.