FIR Against Kolkata Police Over ED's Allegations Of Forged Court Order In Abhishek Banerjee's Coal Scam Case

ED officers alleged that a court order was tampered with in order to force Joint Director Kapil Raj to produce a voice sample without his consent.

New Delhi: Delhi Crime Branch on Friday filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Kolkata Police after Enforcement Directorate (ED) accused it of “forgery and fabrication of a court order."

In FIR 48 of 2022, filed with the Delhi Police on April 20, ED officers alleged that a court order was tampered with in order to force Joint Director Kapil Raj to produce a voice sample without his consent.

An audio recording allegedly containing ED officials discussing the coal smuggling case against Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee surfaced in 2021. The audiotape prompted Mamata Banerjee's nephew to file an FIR against the agency. The case was heard before a magistrate's court in Kolkata.

However, problems arose when the court requested voice samples from the alleged ED officers heard in the problematic audio clip. The Kolkata Police, which reports to Bengal's Home Minister, reportedly forwarded the court decision to the ED with specific alterations.

Raj was asked to appear before the Kolkata Police and furnish a voice sample with his consent to investigators by a Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Alipore last month. Officials with the ED allege that the Kolkata Police removed the reference to consent from the text of the order, which they claim was a subterfuge to force Raj to comply with their demands.

Kapil Raj is also in charge of the ED's investigations into the coal and livestock smuggling cases in which Abhishek Banerjee is involved.