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 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 headquarters in Delhi late Thursday evening on the directions of ED Director Karnal Singh. 

Niranjan Singh is posted at the zonal office of the agency in the city. “The order makes it clear that Niranjan Singh will continue to look into 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 Niranjan Singh in January this year soon after he, along with other ED officials, questioned Majithia, the brother-in-law of Punjab’s Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, in a drug case 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. The ED chief has also cancelled the transfer of its Special Public Prosecutor Suresh Batra from Punjab to Bangalore.