In a surprising development, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday afternoon visited the Loudon Street residence of I-PAC founder Pratik Jain while a Central agency search operation was underway there, reviving memories of earlier instances when she had personally turned up at the premises of officials or associates during Central probes.

I-PAC is the political consultancy that is responsible for defining the political strategy of Trinamool Congress ahead of the crucial assembly polls in the state in a few months.

The search operation was going on from morning but things started to take a different turn when around noon, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma reached the spot. Within minutes of his arrival, the Chief Minister appeared at the residence.

According to eyewitnesses, Mamata Banerjee got down from her vehicle on the road outside the boundary wall and asked, “Where is the house?” before walking into the premises. She emerged a few minutes later holding a green file.

Speaking to the media outside, the Chief Minister alleged that documents belonging to her party were being seized. “They were confiscating all my party’s documents. I have brought them back. This is the work of union Home Minister Amit Shah. He cannot control the country, so he is getting my party’s documents seized,” she said.

Claiming that Pratik Jain was in charge of her party’s work, she added that hard disks and mobile phones were being taken away during the search.

Reacting to Mamata Banerjee’s visit, leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari termed her action “unethical.”

While refraining from commenting on the investigation or the Enforcement Directorate’s searches, Adhikari alleged that the Chief Minister had earlier too interfered in the functioning of constitutional agencies.

He recalled that in 2021, she had staged a sit-in at the CBI’s Nizam Palace office protesting the arrest of Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and Madan Mitra, and had similarly protested when the CBI searched the residence of then police commissioner Rajeev Kumar.

Adhikari also questioned why Trinamool Congress documents would be kept with I-PAC.

After leaving Loudon Street, Mamata Banerjee said she would next visit I-PAC’s office in Salt Lake’s Sector V and proceeded there.

Even before the Chief Minister reached Sector V, Bidhannagar mayor Krishna Chakraborty arrived at the I-PAC office, stating that she had gone there in connection with the ‘Unnayaner Panchali’ campaign.

Describing the searches as an attempt to harass the state government, she said police security had been tightened outside the office.

State minister Sujit Bose and the Bidhannagar police commissioner also reached the spot, while Trinamool Congress workers raised slogans outside.

The developments evoked parallels with past episodes. In 2019, when the CBI raided the Loudon Street bungalow of then police commissioner Rajeev Kumar, Mamata Banerjee had rushed to the spot and later held a sit-in at Dharamtala.

As the Central agency conducted a search at the residence of the head of an advisory firm associated with her government, the Chief Minister made a personal appearance, adding a fresh chapter to a familiar political confrontation.