Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has extended the stay on transfer of Enforcement Directorate Officer Niranjan Singh. Mr Singh, an Assistant Director of the Enforcement Directorate, who recently questioned Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia in a drug case, was recently ordered to shift to Kolkata.
Sources in the Directorate told NDTV that Mr Singh was transferred as there was a need for a senior officer in Kolkata to lead the team which is probing the Saradha chit fund scam.
He was in charge of the money laundering case related to the Punjab drug racket. and had been posted in his home town Jalandhar for the past two years.
But the court today took strong exception to the move and questioned the motive behind Mr Singh's transfer. The order came on a petition of an NGO; the matter will now be heard on February 26.
Mr Singh was the main officer who investigated a number of money laundering and forex violations cases in Punjab.
The Punjab police had busted a Rs. 6,000-crore international synthetic drugs racket in the state in 2013. The ED conducted separate investigations in the case after serious allegations of money laundering emerged.
Mr Majithia, 38, faces allegations of having links with certain non-resident Indians (NRIs) who have been accused of international money laundering related to the drugs racket.