New Delhi, Feb. 4 -- Rejecting allegations of robbery and dacoity levelled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over searches linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has told the Supreme Court that she only retrieved her party's confidential data from the I-PAC office with the express consent of ED officers, and accused the central agency of conducting a pretextual raid aimed at stealing political and organisational information of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

In a detailed affidavit filed in response to notices issued by the top court, Banerjee alleged that ED's operation was timed suspiciously close to assembly elections and formed part of a recurring pattern of "colourable exercise of stat...