Federal Sleuths Keep Close Watch On Ed Chief

The Enforcement Directorate, which has been pursuing several high-profile cases, has come under siege with intelligence agencies turning the spotlight on the conduct of the directorate and its director P Bezbaruah following several allegations of media leaks on sensitive cases that it has been investigating.

The move by the intelligence agencies comes close on the heels of a similar exercise initiated against Joginder Singh, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, after the bureau had prematurely leaked news about the prosecution of Laloo Yadav, Chief Minister of Bihar, who is the main accused in the fodder scam.

Sources say the surveillance of Enforcement Directorate has assumed serious proportions with the phones of the director and other top officials being tapped. In fact, Bezbaruah is under constant watch by these agencies.

Sources have also revealed that the director was personally questioned by intelligence agencies regarding his accessibility to the media a few days ago and to what extent he had interacted with the press on various cases that are being investigated by the directorate.

Officials in the directorate refused to speak on the issue. They were equally reticent when asked whether this intrusion had affected the directorates investigations.

Earlier, the courts had cautioned the Enforcement Directorate about leaks to the media in respect of case proceedings against Bennett & Coleman and its chairman Ashok Jain for alleged Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (Fera) violations.

Besides, the Directorate is handling some extremely high profile cases like ITC Ltd, the Calcutta-based cigarette manufacturing company and Manu Cahbbria, chairman of Shaw Wallace group, for alleged Fera violation charges against them.