Chandigarh, October 6: Enforcement Directorate Deputy Director Niranjan Singh, investigating infamous Jagdish Bhola drug case, on Friday put in his papers — three years ahead of his retirement. Singh has cited ‘personal reasons’ for his move.
“I am quitting my job due to personal reasons,” said Singh after submitting his resignation to Jalandhar ED office chief Girish Bali.
Singh has been probing Punjab’s high-profile Rs 6,000 crore drugs money laundering case in which the former Revenue Minister and senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia was also questioned.
He was currently posted as deputy director in the Directorate’s Punjab headquarters in Jalandhar. He was to retire in 2021.
During the investigation of the drug trafficking case in 2015, Singh was transferred to Kolkata. The issue of his transfer reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court which later revoked his transfer. Singh had then alleged that Majithia was behind his transfer order that would have derailed the money-laundering investigation.
Apart from the drugs money laundering case, the officer was also the main investigating officer in a number of money laundering and forex violations cases in Punjab.
Singh was a recipient of the best investigator award during the ‘Enforcement Day’ event at the hands of the then President Pranab Mukherjee in 2014, and known as one of the finest brains in the domain of money laundering and foreign exchange violation cases.
Those close to him have maintained that he was feeling frustrated as the much-talked-about drug case was making no headway and that was the reason he decided to call it quits.
Source The Pioneer