The Supreme Court on Tuesday (February 3, 2026) has adjourned the hearing till February 10 in the raid case on political consultancy firm I-Pac. The Supreme Court is hearing a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate alleging that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the West Bengal government obstructed the search operation at the office of I-PAC and the premises of its director Prateek Jain in connection with the coal theft scam.
According to PTI report, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, said that the state government has filed affidavits in this case and has sought time. The bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice NV Anjaria adjourned the case.
In the last hearing on January 15, the Supreme Court expressed concern over ED’s argument that the CM tried to obstruct the investigation. The court had called it a serious matter. The court also agreed to examine whether law enforcement agencies of a state can interfere with a central agency’s investigation into a serious crime. The court had also stayed the FIRs against the agency officials who raided the premises of I-PAC on January 8.
While staying the FIR lodged against ED officials in West Bengal, the court had also directed the state police to preserve the CCTV footage of the raid. The court had issued notices to Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal government, DGP Rajeev Kumar and top police officials on ED’s petitions, which had requested for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation against them for obstructing the raid at the I-PAC premises.
The ED has claimed in its petition that the presence of the Chief Minister at the search site and the removal of documents had an intimidating effect on the officers and seriously affected the ability of the investigating agency to discharge its statutory functions independently.
On January 8, ED had raided the office of I-Pac and Prateek Jain’s house. ED alleged that Mamata Banerjee reached there with Bengal Police officers and stopped the investigation. ED also alleges that Mamata Banerjee had left from there taking the documents with her.