I-PAC raid row: Calcutta HC Chief Justice turns down ED’s plea for urgent hearing

January 9, 2026

Calcutta: The Calcutta High Court on Friday rejected the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea seeking an urgent hearing in the case related to the simultaneous raids on the office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and the residence of its co-founder Pratik Jain.

ED’s appeal after hearing postponed in single bench

The ED had appealed for an urgent hearing before a division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Sujay Paul, as the hearing could not begin before the single bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh due to excessive crowding. After Justice Ghosh left the courtroom, the next hearing date for the case was fixed for January 14.

Division bench rejects petition

Rejecting the ED’s demand for an urgent hearing, the division bench said that the hearing would take place on the same date already fixed by Justice Ghosh’s single bench. According to sources, the ED had also requested that the case be transferred to another single bench if a hearing was not possible before January 14th, but the court rejected this request as well.

 Written Petition Not Accepted

Initially, the ED appealed orally before the division bench, upon which the court asked the agency’s lawyer to file a written application. Even after the written appeal was filed, the court refused to accept it. The court stated that since a judicial order had already been passed in the case, the hearing would take place on January 14th, as decided by Justice Ghosh’s bench.

Allegations of Chief Minister’s Abuse of Power

The main petition in the case has been filed by the ED, accusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of abusing her constitutional position and obstructing the work of the central agency’s officials during the raids at the I-PAC office and Pratik Jain’s residence on Thursday.

Demand for CBI Investigation and Role of Senior Officials

The ED has also sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the matter and has made the Chief Minister a party to the petition. The agency has also sought an investigation into the role of senior police officers who accompanied the Chief Minister to both locations during the raids. The ED alleges that the Chief Minister took some paper files and electronic documents with her.

Counter-petitions by TMC and Pratik Jain

Two other counter-petitions have also been filed in this case—one by Pratik Jain himself and the other by the Trinamool Congress (TMC). In its counter-petition, the TMC has alleged that since I-PAC is the party’s election strategy agency, the ED’s action was aimed at seizing strategic documents related to the 2026 assembly elections and transferring them to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).