The Calcutta High Court has adjourned the hearing of petitions related to the ED raids at I-PAC premises till January 14. The single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh adjourned the hearing on the three petitions, citing an unmanageable crowd in the courtroom.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leads a protest rally from Jadavpur to Hazra Crossing against the ED raid on the I-PAC office, in Kolkata on Friday. (ANI Photo)
A day after the Enforcement Directorate carried out raids at the office of the India Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and the residence of its co-founder Pratik Jain, the poll-bound state of West Bengal finds itself in the midst of a huge political storm. With the political atmosphere already heated up in view of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls exercise, the ED raids at what Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described as the IT office of her Trinamool Congress party have only added intensity to the war of words that has been ongoing in West Bengal.
Mamata today led a protest rally from Jadavpur to Hazra Crossing in Kolkata against the ED raid. Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court, where three petitions were scheduled to come up for hearing before the single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh, adjourned the matter till January 14 due to ‘an unmanageable crowd in the courtroom’. The main petition was filed by the ED against CM Mamata Banerjee for misusing her constitutional position by allegedly obstructing the searches being carried out by the central agency officials. The other two counter petitions were filed by the ruling Trinamool Congress and I-PAC head Pratik Jain, who is also in charge of the TMC’s IT cell.
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West Bengal BJP Mahila Morcha holds a counter-march against CM Mamata Banerjee, from Rabindra Sarovar to Deshapriya Park.
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BJP leader Locket Chatterjee, who took part in the march, said, “Yesterday will be marked as a black day in the history of West Bengal. It is a matter of shame that, being a CM, she is using such words against the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. She then alleges being humiliated by the Central government. Mamata Banerjee’s life was stuck in that IPAC office yesterday. This is why she was there.”
#WATCH | Kolkata | BJP leader Locket Chatterjee says, “Yesterday will be marked as a black day in the history of West Bengal… It is a matter of shame that, being a CM, she is using such words against the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. She then alleges being humiliated by… https://t.co/UFKKgJTi68 pic.twitter.com/uijxmNN7DA
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2026
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has slammed the BJP for trying to use the ongoing SIR exercise to come to power in the state.
“If you speak in Bengali, they declare you Bangladeshi. They say that there are Rohingyas present in Bengal, but where are the Rohingyas? If there are no Rohingyas in Assam, why has SIR not been started there? This is all being done because they are trying to come to power in Bengal, as they did in Maharashtra and Haryana. But it is not possible,” Mamata said.
Issuing a warning, the Bengal CM added: “I never react, but if anyone hurts me, I never spare them. In the name of SIR, they target local people. They harassed old people and pregnant women.”
Mamata further slammed Home Minister Amit Shah, whom she has been addressing as “nasty and naughty” ever since the ED raids against I-PAC started yesterday.
“You know who is sitting in the Election Commission. He was the Cooperation Department Secretary of Amit Shah. I have no issues with that…. I challenge them that they came to power in Haryana and Bihar forcefully. In one more state, they come to power forcefully. Now they are trying to do this in Bengal. Ask me who used the coal scam’s money. Suvendu Adhikari used it and sent it to Amit Shah.”
TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, speaking on the Calcutta HC move to adjourn the hearing on the petitions filed in connection with the ED raids at I-PAC office, explained the circumstances under which the hearing could not take place today. “The court was overcrowded. The judge asked everyone except the concerned lawyers and their assistants to leave the court due to overcrowding. The next hearing is on 14th January,” said Banerjee.
TMC MPs who were detained by the Delhi Police during their protest outside Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s office today, have been released from Parliament Street police station. MP Mahua Moitra said, “It is our property where ED came in to do the robbery. All our election data is in the I-PAC office. Just before the elections, they came to tamper with our information. If someone comes into your house to rob you, then you are within your rights to go and protect your property. We have every right to protect our property, else ED will take it and give it to the BJP.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has started her protest march from Jadavpur in South Kolkata against the Enforcement Directorate raids at I-PAC premises in Kolkata yesterday. Ahead of the march, Mamata condemned the “shameful, unacceptable treatment” meted out to TMC MPs in Delhi. The MPs were detained while protesting outside Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s office in Delhi.
#WATCH | Kolkata | TMC Chairperson and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee leads a rally following the ED raid on I-PAC yesterday pic.twitter.com/CkYfedjywC
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2026
The Calcutta High Court has adjourned the hearing of petitions related to the ED raids at I-PAC premises till January 14. The single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh adjourned the hearing on the three petitions, citing an unmanageable crowd in the courtroom.
TMC Chairperson and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is all set to lead a rally shortly against the Enforcement Directorate following the raid on I-PAC yesterday.
#WATCH | Kolkata | TMC Chairperson and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee will lead a rally today against the Enforcement Directorate following the raid on I-PAC yesterday
Visuals from the 8B bus stand, Jadavpur pic.twitter.com/BkJ3x3fcT0
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2026
CPI General Secretary D Raja has commented on the ED-I-PAC raid matter. He said, “What is happening in West Bengal and Delhi has raised several questions. It has to be explained what the ED was doing until now, and woke up suddenly. The elected CM took away the files – why she did this has to be explained. Those who follow politics in Bengal know that there is an attempt to polarise politics in Bengal. All this is happening close to the elections. It is a sensitive development that the CM is protesting on the streets as ED continues its action. People of Bengal need to understand what the BJP and the TMC are doing.”
Detained TMC MP Mahua Moitra accused the Enforcement Directorate of “stealing” political data, claimed the action was timed ahead of Bengal elections, and said TMC MPs were detained while peacefully protesting outside the Home Ministry.
“ED is not carrying out the investigation but is illegally stealing,” said Moitra, adding: “I-PAC is not a hidden organisation. Everyone in India knows that I-PAC is an election strategist, an election consultant. They’ve been working with the Trinamool Congress not just from today, but for the last seven or eight years, and all our services, all our candidate lists, all our election information is with I-PAC because that’s what they do. They raided their office. We would say it wasn’t a raid, the ED committed a robbery, and they were taking all our information, and it’s our duty, it’s our party’s duty to protect that information, and that’s where Mamata Banerjee, the lioness, went…”
The Union Home Ministry has asked the Enforcement Directorate for a detailed report on its January 8 raids at the I-PAC office and co-founder Pratik Jain’s residence, amid allegations of obstruction by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The CRPF has also submitted its own report. The matter will be heard by the Calcutta High Court on Friday.
BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad has slammed West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for her actions during the ED raids on I-PAC yesterday, stating that she has put democracy to shame.
“What happened in Bengal yesterday has never happened before in independent India. The entire action of the CM, Mamata Banerjee, is not only unethical, irresponsible and unconstitutional, but she also has put the entire democratic process to shame,” Prasad told a press briefing.
BJP MLA and LoP, West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari has called CM Mamata Banerjee’s action to take away “evidence” from the ED raid site as “a completely criminal offence” and a direct attack on the Constitution.
“When the BJP government comes to power, we will take action against everyone. All agencies, including the ED and the CBI, follow laws and procedures to take any action. They did not take permission for the protest,” he added.
TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has slammed the Central government over the detention of TMC MPs who were protesting outside Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s office in Delhi, stating that “agencies are weaponised, and democracy is punished”.
“Jail the protesters, bail the rapists,” Banerjee alleged, posting on X.
Democracy is punished.
Criminals are rewarded.
Agencies are weaponised.
Elections are manipulated.JAIL the PROTESTERS.
BAIL the RAPISTS.This is BJP’s version of New India.
Even if the rest of the country is forced to surrender,
Bengal will resist.We will fight you tooth… https://t.co/YH8oAxuUnn
— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) January 9, 2026
ANI reports that the Trinamool Congress petition filed in Calcutta High Court against the ED raids states that the petitioner, TMC, has been standing up and protesting against SIR in Bengal, hence the ED is searching and seizing documents from TMC’s political strategy office (I-PAC) and the residence of the co-founder.
The TMC petition also states that confidential data has been seized illegally by the agency ED.
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate commented on the ED raids at I-PAC premises in Kolkata and slammed the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for trying to intimidate the Opposition.
“The ED (Enforcement Directorate) is the BJP’s election department. Wherever elections are held, the BJP’s election department goes there and works to intimidate and threaten the opposition. I just want to know what the ED has done in the last 11 years besides acting as a front for the BJP? How many of the ED’s cases have reached a conclusion? I think their (ED’s) credibility and reputation have been completely destroyed,” she said.
A group of Trinamool Congress MPs earlier today held a protest outside Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s office in Delhi, accusing the Centre of using investigative agencies to target the Opposition. The demonstration ended with police briefly detaining some of the MPs as security moved in to clear the area.
Detained TMC MP Mahua Moitra said, “We have been detained and brought to Parliament Street police station. We were protesting peacefully outside the office of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who most shamelessly sent his Enforcement Directorate, the Extortion Directorate, to loot, plunder and do political espionage on our party and steal our election data and documents. They dragged us, the public representatives, here. Why is ED selectively only for the Opposition? No other Opposition leader has the courage to do what Didi (Mamata Banerjee) did yesterday to save our party’s documents.”
Detained TMC MP Kirti Azad said, “You have seen that we were doing a peaceful protest outside Amit Shah’s office against ED raid. BJP does not have the courage to win against Mamata Banerjee. She will hold a march at 2 pm today to protest against the ED action in Kolkata.”
#WATCH | Delhi | Detained TMC MPs at Parliament Street police station, following their protest outside Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s Office pic.twitter.com/FrWQyUhmmR
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2026
A BJP delegation is set to call on the Governor of West Bengal at 12.30 pm today, following the ED raids on I-PAC and CM Mamata Banerjee’s protest against it, reports ANI.
“I have received petitions and representations from the public. Three legal points raised in those petitions are: number one, preventing a public servant from discharging his duties is a criminal offence.
“Secondly, intimidating or threatening a public servant in the discharge of his duties is a severe offence, which will attract a punishment of two years and a fine, or both.
“The third is that this is an allegation given to me by the lawyers… The third point which they are raising is that a constitutional authority is supposed to protect the Constitution. If such an authority disobeys the Constitution, that authority has no right to continue in that office… I do not want to risk a knee-jerk reaction now.”
– Governor CV Ananda Bose
West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has reacted to Mamata Banerjee filing an FIR against the ED, stating that one should wait for the Calcutta High Court to hear the matter.
“The law is always above you. You will see that the law is enforced in any manner that is required. Now that it is before the High Court, let us wait for the judgment, then I will give my comment,” the Governor said.
#WATCH | Kolkata: On Mamata Banerjee filing an FIR against the ED, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose says, “…. The law is always above you. You will see that the law is enforced in any manner that is required. Now that it is before the High Court, let us wait for the… pic.twitter.com/OeHdONTpad
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2026
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has filed complaints at two police stations in Kolkata in connection with the ED raids on I-PAC. One of the complaints was registered at Shakespeare Sarani Police Station under Kolkata Police, and the other at Electronic Complex Police Station.
The complaints have been filed against unidentified individuals and do not name any officials of the ED or Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).
As per reports, the Kolkata Police have also registered a suo motu complaint at the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station.
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