Top ED officer applies for retirement
New Delhi, Aug. 20: Enforcement Directorate officer Rajeshwar Singh has applied for retirement from government service and is expected to join the BJP and contest the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, official sources said on Friday.
Mr Singh is currently posted as the joint director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at its zonal office in Lucknow.
A BTech and PhD in police, human rights and social justice, Mr Singh joined the federal antimoney laundering investigations agency in 2009 on deputation from Uttar Pradesh where he was serving as a state police service officer.
Sources told PTI that Mr Singh has applied for retirement from government service. They said there are chances he may join the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh and also contest the Assembly polls in the central Indian state expected to be held early next year.
The application is yet to be accepted, they added.
Mr Singh, who hails from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was permanently absorbed into the ED cadre in 2015.
He has headed some important and high-profile investigations like the 2G spectrum allocation case, 2010 Commonwealth Games alleged irregularities, and money laundering probe against former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda.
He also headed the headquarters investigation unit (HIU) of the ED located in the national capital that probes sensitive money laundering and foreign exchange violation cases including those with political links.
Meanwhile, the officer has had his share of controversies.
In June, 2018 the Union finance ministry had submitted a secret report to the Supreme Court apparently carrying details of a phone call received by Mr Singh from Dubai.
The report is said to have been prepared by country’s external intelligence agency RAW and handed over to the department of revenue in the finance mnistry, under which the ED functions.
The then ED director Karnal Singh had issued a press statement, saying the said overseas call received by Mr Singh pertained to an “ongoing investigation” and he was a responsible officer with outstanding career records.