New Delhi [India], January 9 : Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sanjay Jaiswal on Friday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of "siding with the mafias" after the latter allegedly interfered with the Enforcement Directorate raid in Kolkata at the offices of political consultancy firm I-PAC in connection with the coal smuggling case.
Sanjay Jaiswal said that I-PAC is "a very controversial company" which works with "mafias to topple government."
"When a raid takes place at someone's house, the Chief Minister herself goes there and steals the documents... I-PAC has been a very controversial company from the beginning... In Bihar too, I-PAC spent Rs 60 crore of its money on the Jan Suraaj Party... In Jharkhand, too, they hatched a similar conspiracy, and they succeeded in Jharkhand," Sanjay Jaiswal told ANI.
"I-PAC's job is to work with mafias, taking money from them to form and topple governments... This shows that Mamata Banerjee is with the mafia...ED should register an FIR against Mamata Banerjee," he said.
This comes after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee quetioned the legality of an ED raid in Kolkata at the office of I-PAC. She alleged 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 told reporters.
"If Amit Shah wants Bengal, then come, fight democratically, and win. Everyone must know what kind of operation has been carried out. 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.
Countering the Chief Minister's allegations, the ED accused Mamata Banerjee of entering the residential premises of Prateek Jain, director of I-PAC, during the ongoing search operation and taking away "key evidence", including physical documents and electronic devices.
"Banerjee entered the residential premises of Prateek Jain and took away key evidence, including physical documents and electronic devices," the ED said, adding that her convoy then proceeded to I-PAC's office, from where "Ms Banerjee, her aides and the state police personnel forcibly removed physical documents and electronic evidence".