ED vs West Bengal: Supreme Court Adjourns Plea Alleging Obstruction In I-PAC Raid Case To May 22

The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the Enforcement Directorate’s plea alleging interference by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state officials in its probe and search operations conducted at the I-PAC Kolkata office and premises linked to co-founder Pratik Jain.

The Bench of Justices P.K. Mishra and N.V. Anjaria took up the matter briefly before it was adjourned.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED via video conferencing, sought a listing of the matter for next week. However, Justice P.K. Mishra observed that the matter could be listed in July.

“I am requesting for next week,” the Solicitor General submitted, pressing for an early hearing.

Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Maneka Guruswamy appeared for the State of West Bengal.

During the hearing, the Solicitor General also informed the Court that counsel for the petitioner was ready to argue, while the other side had concluded submissions. “Currently, Mr Raju is on his legs. He has to argue. The other side has finished,” he stated.

After brief exchanges, the Bench adjourned the matter and listed it for hearing on May 22.

Last month, SG Mehta told the bench that "The sitting Chief Minister has actively caused obstruction in investigation...Rule of Law ceases to operate when executive uses state machinery to obstruct investigation."

Previously, the court had come down sharply on Mamata Banerjee over allegations that she interfered with an ongoing investigation, observing that such conduct “puts democracy in peril.”
“This is not a dispute between the State and the Union,” the Bench had observed. “A Chief Minister of any State cannot walk into the midst of an investigation, put the democracy in peril, and then say don’t convert this into a dispute between the State and the Union,” it said. The Court further remarked that such a situation was unprecedented and went beyond conventional federal disputes. “We never thought that in this country a day would come where a sitting Chief Minister would walk into the office where an investigating agency is probing a case,” the Bench said.

Earlier, the bench had raised sharp questions to the West Bengal government over its objection to the maintainability of a plea filed by the ED, asking whether officers of the agency cease to enjoy fundamental rights merely because they are government officials.

Court was hearing the plea filed by ED against the West Bengal Chief Minister and certain state police officers over their obstruction of a search at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC. Recently, Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra had told court that ED must justify how it has been weaponized in the state. In a sharp response, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju had said, "It has not been weaponized, it has been terrorized..".

In a complete reversal of her stance, Mamata Banerjee had told the Court that ED allowed her to retrieve devices and physical files during its search at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC, which works with the All India Trinamool Congress.

On January 15, the court had issued notice on petitions filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and its officers alleging interference by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and senior state police officials during a search conducted at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its director Prateek Jain.

Case Title: Directorate of Enforcement v. The State of West Bengal

Bench: Justices PK Mishra and NV Anjaria

Hearing Date: May 13, 2026

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