Enforcement Directorate officer who sought closure of National Herald case shifted

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate officer, who had recommended closure of National Herald case, has been shunted out of the agency and posted in Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Himanshu Kumar Lal has been appointed as Deputy Secretary in the UIDAI under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology.

The order said the official would be serving in the new posting for remainder of his tenure on central deputation till December 26 next year.

Lal, an IPS officer of 2003 cadre of Odhisa cadre, was posted as Joint Director in the ED and had favoured closing the case in his report to the Department of Revenue.

There is no "predicate offence" that could be made out against the two Congress leaders (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi), a requisite for filing an FIR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the official had said in his report earlier this year.

This report was flagged by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in his complaint to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August this year in which he had demanded appointment of full time Director of ED, which was being handled Rajan S Katoch as additional charge.

Immediately after the complaint of Swamy, the government appointed Special Director of ED Karnal Singh as the new incharge thereby curtailing the three-month extension given to Katoch barely two weeks ago.