Kolkata Police reaches I-PAC co-founder’s residence to identify ED, CRPF personnel involved in raid
Kolkata: Kolkata Police personnel on Saturday afternoon reached the residence of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) co-founder Pratik Jain to identity the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials and the accompanying Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) team present during Thursday’s raids by the central agency.
The identification of the ED and CRPF officials and personnel engaged in Thursday’s raid and search operation is being done both from the footage of CCTV cameras installed at Jain’s residence, as well as through statements of those residing in the area.
Apart from the family members, the statements of the domestic staff and the personnel of the security agency deployed at the residence of Jain are also being recorded by the police.
Already, West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has registered two complaints at two police stations regarding the ED’s simultaneous raid and search operations at Jain’s residence at Loudon Street and I-PAC’s office at Salt Lake on the northern outskirts of Kolkata.
One complaint has been registered at Shakespeare Sarani Police Station under whose jurisdiction Jain’s Loudon Street residence comes. The other complaint had been registered at the Electronic Complex Police Station under Bidhannagar City Police, under whose jurisdiction I-PAC’s Salt Lake office comes.
However, in both complaints, neither any ED officials nor CAPF personnel have been named. The complaints have been registered at the two police stations against unidentified individuals.
In addition, Kolkata Police have also filed a suo motu complaint in the matter at the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station.
The West Bengal BJP leadership had claimed that it was unprecedented in Indian democracy that the state police is hounding the officials of a central investigating agency just because they were performing their official duty by conducting the raid and search operations.
The raids were held in connection with an old coal smuggling case. The ED has linked the multi-crore coal smuggling syndicate of Anup Majee to political consultancy I-PAC via a hawala trail.