ED chief writes to Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia over complaints against its officials

The court has issued notices to the CBI chief on this plea.

Meetu Jain
New Delhi, November 2, 2017 | UPDATED 00:42 IST
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh AdhiaRevenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia

In an unprecedented move, the Enforcement Directorate has written to Secretary Revenue that too many frivolous complaints are being filed against officials of the department.

ED chief Karnail Singh has in a letter to Secretary Revenue Hasmukh Adhia said that keeping in mind the motivated complaints being filed against his officials, if a case has to be registered it should be done with prior knowledge of the ED chief. The letter has been marked to the CVC, the CBI chief and heads of the RAW and the Intelligence Bureau. Incidentally, ED joint director Rajeshwar Singh on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court with a plea that the CBI should probe the alleged motivated complaints against him.

The court has issued notices to the CBI chief on this plea.

ED officials told India Today, one will get to the bottom of this once the CBI begins its probe. These complaints are being filed by those the ED is investigating."

Singh has also requested to be taken off the probe involving the Aircel Maxis deal. Making a direct allegation against  former Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram, the intervention application filed in the Supreme Court says, "Pursuant to the filing of the aforesaid complaint by the applicant (against Karti Chidambaram) a series of false, frivolous and concocted complaints have started coming in against the Applicant. It is relevant to submit here that the said complaints are of an identical nature as those (filed in) 2011". Karti Chidambaram could not be reached for comment.

Rajeshwar Singh's absorption in the ED was objected to for the third time (twice before when the UPA was in power) when Joint Secretary (revenue) US Kumawat wrote a dissenting note on the file. While Kumawat was shortly given his transfer orders, officials say the two events are completely unconnected.

The last time around the all powerful joint director moved the court, the Supreme Court ordered the Finance Ministry to absorb Singh saying, "this man has the trust of the court". Singh is the key official probing the 2G scam.