Supreme Court Stays FIRs as ED Accuses Mamata Banerjee of Theft

The Supreme Court of India intervened in a high-stakes legal clash between the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the West Bengal government following raids on January 8, 2026. The ED targeted the offices of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its director, Pratik Jain, as part of a ₹2,742 crore coal smuggling and money laundering investigation. The agency alleges that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, supported by senior police officials including DGP Rajeev Kumar and Commissioner Manoj Verma, obstructed the operation by forcibly removing laptops, mobile phones, and documents from the sites.

Mamata Banerjee denied the allegations, asserting she acted as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson to prevent the BJP from stealing sensitive electoral strategies for the 2026 Assembly elections. She led a 10-kilometer protest march in Kolkata and filed FIRs against ED officers, which the Supreme Court subsequently stayed, calling the state's interference a prima facie situation of lawlessness. The court ordered the preservation of CCTV footage and issued notices to Banerjee and state officials, while the ED sought a CBI probe into the obstruction.

Concurrent legal battles occurred at the Calcutta High Court, where a TMC petition for data protection was disposed of after the ED claimed no records were actually seized by the agency. The BJP condemned Banerjee's actions as unconstitutional, while the TMC maintained the raids were a political vendetta. The Supreme Court deferred further hearings on the ED's plea for a CBI investigation until March 18, 2026.