In an unprecedented move, the government on Tuesday removed senior IPS officer Vineet Agarwal from the post of special director at Enforcement Directorate (ED), Mumbai, with immediate effect.
Agarwal's tenure in the ED has been cut short by three years. Agarwal was appointed as special director in ED in January 2017 for five years.
The move comes after it emerged that Agarwal had issued a transfer order to joint director Satyabrata Kumar who was in-charge of the Nirav Modi case. The order was isssued on March 29, when Kumar was in London to appear in a UK Magistrate's court on behalf of the Indian government in an extradition case against Nirav Modi.
However, on the same day, the director of ED, Sanjay Kumar Mishra, revoked Agarwal’s order cancelling Kumar's original transfer order.
When Business Standard contacted Agarwal, he said that he was not aware of the development and was yet to receive the order.
Sources say that his removal from the position was due to his interference in the Nirav Modi case, which is being specifically monitored by the Prime Minister's Office. Moreover, the decision to transfer the joint director was not within his purview. According to rules, an officer of the rank of special director can only transfer officials up to the rank of assistant directors.
It is learnt that Mishra had sought a written explanation from Agarwal, for issuing the order in haste while the officer concerned was in London for Nirav Modi’s bail hearing.
Modi, who fled India after having allegedly defrauded the state owned Punjab National Bank of Rs 13,000 crore, was arrested in the United Kingdom last month.