NEW DELHI: The CBI fiasco is likely to have an adverse impact on the extension of chief of Enforcement Directorate (ED) Karnail Singh’s tenure. The government is unlikely to extend his term, which gets over on October 27, due to Karnail’s alleged proximity to Alok Verma.
According to a senior official, the government is miffed with Karnail as he sided with Enforcement Directorate Joint Director Rajeshwar Singh after he went public with his letter to Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, in which he slammed Adhia for “siding with scamsters and their affiliates.”
The accusations in the letter dated 11 June 2018, were very strong and Karnail forwarded that letter to the Finance Ministry, under which the ED comes. Subramanian Swami went public with the letter and also accused CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana. The letter was also widely circulated in the media.
“Many top Enforcement Directorate officials were close to Verma and had launched a series of attacks against Asthana. In the last few days, various documents were leaked through the ED office in favour of Verma, who enjoyed the confidence of Karnail Singh. Top authorities are in the know of this and are not very happy about it,” a senior official told The New Indian Express.