The Government has cancelled Enforcement Directorate Joint Director Rajeshwar Singh’s leave without citing any reasons. The leave was granted to him last month by then ED Director Karnal Singh.
Singh is facing investigation for writing a letter against Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia earlier this year.
In his letter, Singh had asked Adhia, who was then Revenue Secretary, if he had developed animosity against him by “siding with scamsters and their affiliates”.
The Department of Revenue (DoR), under the Union Finance Ministry, disallowed Rajeshwar Singh’s study leave. However, the then ED Director Karnal Singh sanctioned his leave on October 27, days before his retirement on October 31. Rajeshwar Singh had sought leave for pursuing an LLM course.
IRS officer Sanjay Kumar Mishra was subsequently appointed the new ED chief following his predecessor’s retirtement.
The Department of Revenue has overturned Karnal Singh’s order sanctioning leave to Rajeshwar Singh without citing any reasons, officials said. The ED functions under the Department of Revenue.
According to the leave sanction order approved by the former ED chief Karnal Singh, Rajeshwar Singh will be available whenever he is required for “assistance in investigations or trial in court” with regard to cases probed by him, including the 2G spectrum allocation and the Aircel-Maxis money laundering cases.
Rajeshwar Singh had last month also handed over his charge of joint director (Lucknow zone) of the ED after the leave was sanctioned.
The Union Finance ministry had submitted a secret report to the Supreme Court in June, apparently carrying details of a phone call received by Rajeshwar Singh from Dubai.
The report was prepared by country’s external Intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and handed over to the DoR.
The Government subsequently launched an investigation against Rajeshwar Singh for the letter against Adhia.