Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday quashed the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) plea alleging that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had seized the party’s confidential files and data during the raids conducted by the probe agency at the house of I-PAC chief Prateek Jain and the office of the political consultancy. ED's petitions against the Bengal government will now be taken up by the Supreme Court tomorrow (January 15, 2026).
The High Court heard the pleas filed by the ED and the Trinamool Congress(TMC) today (January 14, 2026), a few days after the ED sought the apex court's intervention in the matter. While the TMC argued that it had the right to protect its confidential electoral data, the ED said that the TMC's plea was ‘not maintainable’, as the person who filed the affidavit was not connected with the places searched.
The Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG) S.V. Raju appeared for ED, while Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy represented the government of West Bengal. ED further questioned the interim relief sought by the TMC.
During the hearing, TMC said, "Our petition is limited to the point that our personal political data be protected. It is inappropriate to bully a political party when it has filed a petition, believing that its data could be taken from its political consultant of six years." However, ED told the court that the search operation had "nothing to do with Trinamool Congress."
"Nothing has been seized. Whatever was taken was taken away by Mamata Banerjee," ED said. The Court further noted that no backup of any data was made by the Enforcement Directorate during the raids.
During the hearing, ASG Raju said, "Search has nothing to do with Trinamool Congress. The person [whose premise was searched] has not approached the Court."
"The entire petition is based on arguments regarding the election and not the infringement of any right. Someone's data has been seized from someone's house; they should come to court. I-PAC should have come here," he noted."The search was conducted somewhere else, but another party is coming and saying that my data was with them. This is not how it works," the probe agency's claims added.
The ED's arguments against the West Bengal government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow. A bench headed by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra will take up the case. The central agency had asked for the case hearing to be adjourned at the Calcutta High Court earlier today, citing that it should be under the jurisdiction of the top court. Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay opposed the adjournment request.
The January 8 raids by the ED were a part of a money laundering probe into an alleged multi-crore rupee coal pilferage scam.
(With agency inputs)
