ED revokes transfer of main investigator in Punjab drugs case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has revoked the transfer of its main investigating officer probing cases related to the high-profile Rs 6,000 crore drugs money laundering crime in Punjab in which state Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia and others were questioned.
The order to re-instate Assistant Director Niranjan Singh, who was transferred in January soon after he quizzed Majithia, was issued by the agency's headquarter in Delhi late last evening on the directions of ED Director Karnal Singh.
Singh is posted at the zonal office of the agency here.
"The order makes it clear that Niranjan Singh will continue to look after the cases he was investigating in the Punjab region. His transfer orders to the Kolkata office of the ED, also stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, have been cancelled too," sources said.

The transfer of Singh in January this year soon after he along with other ED officials questioned Majithia, who is brother-in-law of Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, in a drugs case here had courted controversy with the Congress party alleging political expediency behind the move.
"The agency will also duly inform the High Court about the latest decision," they said.

Meanwhile, the ED chief, sources said, has also cancelled the transfer of its Special Public Prosecutor Suresh Batra from Punjab to Bangalore.
Batra, who is also based at the ED office here, was transferred by agency headquarters soon after Singh. He was looking after some important money laundering cases being investigated and charge sheeted by the agency in Punjab.

Apart from the drugs money laundering case, Singh was also the main officer for probe into a number of money laundering and forex violations cases that are being conducted in the state for a long time now.
The central probe agency, few days after controversy broke put on the transfer, had defended the move saying Singh was "specially selected" to take over an "important assignment" of probing Saradha scam cases in Kolkata region.
Singh, last year, was a recipient of the best investigator award during the 'Enforcement Day' event at the hands of President Pranab Mukherjee and is known as one the finest brains in the domain of money laundering and foreign exchange violation cases.