Kolkata: Echoes of the clash between the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over raids on Trinamool-linked firm I-PAC spilled into Calcutta High Court on Friday, forcing Justice Suvra Ghosh to defer hearings on petitions from both sides until January 14. She cited “enormous disturbance and commotion” in the courtroom, walking out after lawyers and others ignored her pleas for order.
In her order, Justice Ghosh noted she would have proceeded as planned but for the unruly influx of lawyers and bystanders. “Several requests made by the court to maintain decorum and dignity fell on deaf ears. The environment in the courtroom is not conducive to commence/continue with the hearing,” she stated.
ED, which first filed over Mamata’s alleged meddling in the I-PAC probe, sought an urgent hearing from Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul. He rejected it, telling agency counsel Dhiraj Trivedi no grounds existed to bypass the assigned judge’s scheduled date.
The ED-Mamata standoff erupted Thursday afternoon when she visited I-PAC director Pratik Jain’s Loudon Street residence during agency searches tied to a 2020 money laundering case. She then lingered nearly four hours at I-PAC’s Salt Lake Sector V office, reportedly removing documents and storage devices she said held Trinamool Congress election strategies.
ED’s petition also accuses DGP Rajeev Kumar and Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Varma of stealing digital devices and evidence, plus wrongfully restraining central officers. Mamata’s counter-claim brands ED as acting on BJP orders to seize Trinamool data ahead of assembly polls.
The 2:30 pm hearing in Court No. 5 drew a swelling crowd post-lunch. ED’s Trivedi and Trinamool’s Kalyan Banerjee struggled to approach the bench. “Anyone not associated with the case, please leave,” Justice Ghosh urged. After 15 minutes of uproar, high court staff and a posted Kolkata Police officer cleared some space, but noise persisted. “I cannot hear anything,” the judge declared, adjourning the matter.
