Govt removes ED Mumbai chief over Nirav Modi case controversy

The government has removed ED's special director in Mumbai, Vineet Agarwal, for his alleged interference in relieving the agency's investigating officer in the Nirav Modi money-laundering case without following due procedure, officials said Tuesday.

They said the tenure of Agarwal has been cut short by three years and the 1994-batch Indian Police Service officer of Maharashtra cadre has been repatriated to his home state with immediate effect.

The Union Finance Ministry issued an order Tuesday after getting sanction from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and subsequently the ED headquarters in Delhi issued the orders relieving Agarwal from the post of special director of the agency in Mumbai, the officials said.

An ED special director, based in Mumbai, heads the western region of the agency and has control over Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The charge has now been handed over in an "additional capacity" to the agency's special director based in ...