New Delhi/Kolkata, January 11, 2026 – In a high-stakes legal showdown intensifying the rift between the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government, the ED on Saturday approached the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court's deferral of hearings in a petition seeking a CBI probe into alleged state interference during raids on political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC). The move comes just hours after the High Court postponed proceedings until after the January 14 Poush Sankranti holiday, prompting the central probe agency to decry "deliberate delays" in a case tied to a multi-crore coal smuggling scam. Anticipating the ED's apex court escalation, the West Bengal government swiftly filed a caveat, ensuring it is heard before any adverse orders are passed.
The controversy, erupting from ED searches conducted on January 6 across 10 premises – six in Kolkata and four in Delhi – linked to I-PAC's alleged role in laundering proceeds from illegal coal trade, has snowballed into a federal flashpoint. I-PAC, founded by poll strategist Prashant Kishor and credited with engineering Trinamool Congress (TMC)'s 2021 assembly poll sweep, faces accusations of receiving ₹52 crore in "tainted funds" from coal scam suspects, including TMC strongman Sujay Krishna Bhadra (alias Kalighat Balak), who was arrested last year. The raids, part of a broader crackdown under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), uncovered digital devices, documents, and financial trails purportedly showing the firm's complicity in channeling illicit gains to election coffers.
Tensions boiled over during the Kolkata operations when, according to ED complaints, a contingent of state police – led by an Assistant Sub-Inspector – stormed the I-PAC office at Salt Lake, seized mobile phones from three ED officials (including a deputy director), and detained them briefly for "verification." The agency alleges this was a brazen bid to tamper with evidence, as the confiscated devices contained critical raid footage and communication logs. "The state machinery's interference not only obstructed our constitutional mandate but risked destroying vital digital evidence," ED counsel Zoheb Hussain asserted in the High Court petition, demanding a CBI inquiry into the "conspiracy" and exemplary action against the officers.
The Calcutta High Court, under Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, listed the ED's urgent plea for hearing on January 10 but deferred it sine die post-holidays, citing the festival calendar. This prompted the ED's immediate pivot to the Supreme Court, where it filed a miscellaneous application under Article 136, seeking transfer of the matter and an interim stay on any state actions. Sources in the ED's Delhi headquarters described the High Court adjournment as "tactically motivated," arguing it allows potential evidence spoliation in the interim. "Justice delayed is justice denied, especially when probes involve political heavyweights," a senior ED official told reporters outside the apex court registry, speaking anonymously.
In a preemptive strike, the West Bengal government lodged a caveat in the Supreme Court late Friday, a procedural maneuver that bars ex-parte orders against it. Filed through Advocate-on-Record Astha Tyagi, the caveat counters the ED's narrative, portraying the state police's intervention as a "routine protocol" to prevent "overreach" by central agencies. "The ED's raid was unlawful from the outset – no prior intimation, no search warrants displayed promptly. Our officers acted to safeguard citizens' rights, not obstruct," Law Minister Moloy Ghatak thundered at a Kolkata presser, flanked by TMC spokespersons. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, addressing a party workers' meet in Alipore, amplified the defiance: "They think they can bully Bengal into submission? This is our land, our laws – the Supreme Court will see through their vendetta."
The TMC's riposte includes a counter-offensive: Kolkata Police on Saturday registered an FIR against "unknown ED personnel" under IPC sections for criminal trespass, cheating, and forgery, based on I-PAC staff complaints of "harassment." Party MP Kalyan Banerjee dismissed the CBI demand as "BJP's desperate ploy" ahead of the 2026 assembly polls, where anti-incumbency and corruption charges loom large for the ruling dispense. "I-PAC was our strategist, not a co-conspirator. This is selective targeting to cripple our campaign machinery," he alleged, vowing judicial pushback.
From the saffron camp, the development is manna. BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar hailed the ED's SC move as "a victory for federal accountability," accusing Banerjee of "fostering a rogue regime" that shields scamsters. "Raids on I-PAC expose how poll funds from coal mafia greased TMC's victory. The caveat is just another stall tactic – the truth will out in the apex court," Majumdar posted on X, garnering over 50,000 likes within hours. Legal experts, however, urge caution. Constitutional lawyer and former Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand observed, "Caveats ensure balanced hearings, but this risks politicizing the judiciary further. The SC must expedite to prevent probe paralysis."
This isn't the first ED-state skirmish in Bengal: Similar standoffs marked probes into cattle smuggling and civic body recruitments, with the High Court repeatedly intervening. The coal scam alone has ensnared over 50 arrests, including three former ministers, with the ED claiming ₹1,000 crore in laundered funds funneled through shell firms like I-PAC's alleged fronts. As the petition lands before a bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna – potentially as early as Monday – all eyes are on whether the apex court will fast-track, mirroring its 2024 intervention in the Sandeshkhali violence case.
For now, the I-PAC saga underscores deepening Centre-state fissures, where enforcement agencies collide with regional strongholds. In the corridors of power from Writers' Buildings to North Block, whispers abound of electoral warfare disguised as judicial jousts. As ED sleuths huddle over seized hard drives in Delhi, and TMC cadres rally in Kolkata's maidan, the Supreme Court's gavel could tip the scales – or entrench the stalemate – in Bengal's battle for black gold and ballots.
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