Kolkata, 08 January (H.S.): Amidst raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the Salt Lake Sector-5 office of I-PAC, the election strategy firm associated with the Trinamool Congress, after visiting the Loudon Street residence of its head, Pratik Jain. Similar to Pratik Jain's house, bundles of files were brought out from the I-PAC office. While the Chief Minister herself carried files out of Pratik Jain's house earlier, this time police officers carried the bundles of files downstairs and placed them on the back seat of the Chief Minister's car. Mamata Banerjee herself emerged from the office much later.

The Chief Minister's car was surrounded by a heavy police contingent.

Notably, the ED had been conducting search operations at Pratik Jain's house and the I-PAC office in Salt Lake since Thursday morning. Mamata Banerjee visited both locations during these raids.

Several local Trinamool Congress leaders and ministers were already present at the I-PAC office in Salt Lake before the Chief Minister arrived. These included Bidhannagar Mayor Krishna Chakraborty and MLA and State Minister Sujit Bose. Upon her arrival, Mamata Banerjee went directly to the 11th floor of the multi-story building in Sector-5, where the I-PAC office is located, using the lift. Although the building has a VIP lift, the Chief Minister was seen using the regular lift from the basement to reach the 11th floor. Her car was also parked in front of the building's basement.

Earlier, during the ED search at Pratik Jain's house on Loudon Street, the Chief Minister had arrived there with Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma. When she arrived at the I-PAC office in Salt Lake, the entire area was cordoned off by senior officers of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate. Mamata Banerjee arrived at the office around 12:44 PM and came down approximately an hour later, after 1:30 PM. During this time, the state's Director General of Police, Rajiv Kumar, also arrived at the I-PAC office.

During the search at the I-PAC office, central forces had sealed the entrance and exit gates of the multi-story building. Both gates were found closed when the Chief Minister arrived. Without any confrontation with the central forces, Mamata Banerjee proceeded to the elevator via the basement and then reached the I-PAC office on the 11th floor.

There was a heavy deployment of central forces since the ED team began the search. The number of central forces was further increased after the Chief Minister's arrival, and the Bidhannagar police also increased their presence.

On Thursday morning, as soon as the news of the raids on Prateek Jain's house and the I-PAC office spread, Mamata Banerjee went directly to his residence on Loudon Street. After staying there for a few minutes, she came out holding a green file. Later, she alleged that the ED had raided the Trinamool Congress's IT sector office and the house of the IT sector in-charge and attempted to seize the party's hard drives, candidate lists, election strategies, and party plans.

The Chief Minister blamed Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP for this action, calling it political vendetta. She warned that seizing party documents is against democracy and would not be tolerated.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey