"ED committed robbery, Mamata Banerjee went to protect information": TMC MP Mahua Moitra on raid at I-PAC office

New Delhi [India], January 9 : Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Friday alleged that the Enforcement Directorate was "committing robbery" at the I-PAC office, where all of the TMC's data related to elections was present, and justified West Bengal Mamata Banerjee's actions to protect that data.
Moitra questioned the timing of the ED's raid at the I-PAC office in connection with a "seven-year-old" alleged coal scam, and said that they were aware that TMC election information is available at that office.
"ED is not carrying out the investigation, but is illegally stealing. The ED is not taking any action because if there was a seven-year-old coal scam, it suddenly woke up, a month before the Bengal elections, and they remembered the idea of taking action, and where did they go to take action? I-PAC is not a hidden organisation. Everyone in India knows that I-PAC is an election strategist, an election consultant," she said.
"They've been working with the Trinamool Congress not just from today, but for the last seven or eight years, and all our services, all our candidate lists, all our election information is with I-PAC because that's what they do. They raided their office. We would say it wasn't a raid; the ED committed a robbery, and they were taking all our information, and it's our duty, it's our party's duty to protect that information, and that's where Mamata Banerjee, the lioness, went. Only Mamata Banerjee can stop them like this," she added.
Earlier today, TMC MPs, including Moitra staged a protest outside the Home Ministry in New Delhi, raising slogans against Amit Shah, alleging "misuse" of the probe agency. Delhi Police later detained the TMC MPs and took them to Parliament Street police station.
Moitra said,"This morning, eight of us MPs came, and we were protesting outside the Home Ministry. We were peacefully protesting, and you saw how they picked us up, dragged us, and brought us here."
Meanwhile, In a writ petition filed before the Calcutta High Court, the Enforcement Directorate accused the West Bengal Police, allegedly acting in collusion with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, of obstructing its officials and failing to discharge their public duty in "flagrant and blatant disregard to law" during an ongoing search operation in Kolkata carried out on January 8.
In the 28-page petition, the ED said the state police prevented its officers from carrying out their official duties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The agency alleged that the situation escalated after the Chief Minister on Thursday entered the residential premises of Prateek Jain, director of political consultancy firm I-PAC, during an ED search and took away what the agency described as "key evidence", including physical documents and electronic devices.
Banerjee, however, questioned the legality of the raid, alleging that the central agency had seized party-related materials, including hard disks, candidate lists and strategic documents, and accused Amit Shah of misusing central agencies.
"Is it the duty of the ED, Amit Shah, to collect the party's hard disk, candidate list? The nasty, naughty Home Minister who cannot protect the country is taking away all my party documents," Banerjee said while speaking to reporters.
"At 6:00 am, they arrived and seized the party's data, laptops, strategies, and mobile phones. Their forensic experts transferred all the data. I believe this is a crime," she said.