Dilli Ka Babu: Lost in wilderness

Now that the National Herald case is making headlines, with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi in the dock, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) official who had earlier recommended closure of the case is under the scanner. Himanshu Kumar Lal, an Indian Police Service officer of the Orissa cadre, has been shunted out of the ED and sent as deputy secretary to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), in what is clearly a sign that the government is displeased with him.

Mr Lal was a joint director in ED and after investigating the allegations in the National Herald case he had recommended to the revenue department that the case be closed. Unfortunately for the official, the report reached Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy who then pressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appoint a full-time director of ED, instead of being handled as an additional charge by Rajan S. Katoch. The pressure worked and the government appointed Karnal Singh as special director of ED. The rest, as they say, is becoming historic.

While the UT Cadre IAS Association and Delhi IAS Officers Association have not commented, individual babus have rushed to Mr Kumar’s aid, saying that judging him before the completion of CBI’s investigation is akin to intimidation of the civil service. Earlier this year, the Delhi IAS Officers Association had stepped in and convened a meeting when chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had accused Mr Kumar’s colleague Shakuntala Gamlin of allegedly showing favouritism. In

Mr Kumar’s case, though, the association has stayed on the sidelines.