"Mamata Banerjee has become synonymous with jungle raj": BJP's Gaurav Bhatia

Bhatia's remarks came after the Supreme Court pulled up the Chief Minister for interrupting an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid at the residence of I-PAC co-founder Pratik Jain in January.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia called for the immediate resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asserting that she is "putting the country's democracy in danger."

"In West Bengal, we saw that Mamata Banerjee stopped the officers who had gone to investigate the coal scam by the ED from conducting the probe. She attempted to destroy the evidence that was there. Mamata Banerjee, who has become synonymous with jungle raj, has received a supreme rebuke from the Supreme Court. If she has even a shred of shame left, she should immediately resign from her position as Chief Minister. Mamata Banerjee is putting democracy in danger," said Bhatia.

Supreme Court while examining the maintainability of pleas filed by three officers of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), seeking registration of an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over an alleged attack by West Bengal Police during a search at the I-PAC office in Kolkata, declared that it cannot ignore "the practical realities" and have to keep in view "the extraordinary situation" unfolding in the election-bound State.

Terming the alleged interference by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in the midst of an investigation being carried out by a Central agency as perilous to democracy, a bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and NV Anjaria said that the alleged act committed by 'a CM of a State' has 'put the entire democracy in jeopardy'.

"This is not a dispute between the state and the union. We never thought that in this country, a day would come when a sitting CM would walk into the office where some investigating agency is...The Chief Minister of any state cannot walk in in the midst of an investigation, put the democracy in peril, and then say that 'don't convert this into a dispute between the state and the union'. This is an act committed by an individual who happens to be the chief minister, keeping the whole democracy in jeopardy," the Court remarked.

After hearing submissions by the three senior lawyers, the Court has listed that matter to be heard tomorrow, when counter arguments would be made by the ED. (ANI)