Kolkata, 13 July (H.S.): The Calcutta High Court on Monday rejected a plea by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee seeking to be impleaded in a case challenging the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) decision to freeze multiple bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Justice Krishna Rao declined the application, observing that the issue of who has the authority to represent the Trinamool Congress is currently pending before the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the court would not intervene in that matter at this stage.

At the outset of the hearing, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the ED, questioned the maintainability of the petition, arguing that TMC MP Derek O'Brien had signed the petition without authorisation from the party's National Executive Committee. He contended that a party member could not institute such proceedings without proper authorisation and alleged that material facts might have been suppressed.

Appearing for the TMC, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi countered that the allegations were baseless, pointing out that the High Court had already passed an interim order in the matter on July 9. He informed the court that the ED had initially frozen three bank accounts and had since frozen a total of eight. Singhvi argued that these accounts had been used for election-related expenditure before May 4, when no objections had been raised.

He further submitted that following a complaint received on June 18, the police moved to freeze the accounts on June 19, and the ED subsequently froze additional accounts on July 7 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Singhvi alleged that the action was intended to cripple the functioning of a political party by depriving it of access to its funds.

Senior advocate Kishore Dutta, also appearing for the TMC, argued that the allegations related to the purchase of aircraft and helicopters worth around Rs 440 crore, but freezing the party's bank accounts on that basis was unjustified. He sought quashing of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and de-freezing of the remaining accounts.

During the hearing, Justice Rao asked whether the ED's probe was based on a police FIR. Additional Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi replied that while the ED may act on information emerging from a police complaint, it is empowered to conduct an independent investigation if it finds material indicating money laundering.

The matter is expected to come up for further hearing at a later date.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey