On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled against extending the tenure of Enforcement Directorate (ED) Chief, Sanjay Kumar Mishra, for a third term. Mishra, a 1984-batch India Revenue Service officer, has overseen significant expansion of the ED, the federal investigative agency known for its actions in various alleged money laundering cases, since his appointment as its Director.
Mishra first assumed the position of ED chief in November 2018, having previously served as the agency’s principal special director. When he took the helm, the ED had five Special Directors and 18 Joint Directors, the majority of whom were from the Indian Police Service (IPS). Officers typically join the ED via deputation from central and state governments or union territories.
Under Mishra’s leadership, the ED expanded to include nine Special Directors, three Additional Directors, 36 Joint Directors, and 18 Deputy Directors by August 2022. Preference for deputation to the ED began to lean towards officers from the Income Tax, Directorate General of GST Intelligence, and Customs and Excise Department. Furthermore, the ED established offices in the northeastern states of Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, and Sikkim, as well as Karnataka, all within four years under Mishra.
Notably, the ED, which investigates high-profile cases across multiple states including Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Delhi, enhanced its profile and strengthened its manpower under Mishra’s guidance. The agency established its first office in Meghalaya in August 2021 and its first office in Manipur in the same month, with both sub-zonal offices functioning under Zonal Office-II in Guwahati. An additional office was opened in Mangaluru, Karnataka in September 2021, and two more sub-zonal offices were launched in Gangtok and Agartala in October 2021.
Government records submitted to Parliament reveal that the number of cases registered by the ED under FEMA and PMLA nearly tripled between 2019-2022 compared to the period between 2014-2017. Under Mishra’s leadership, there has been an increase in searches to resolve pending investigations in old cases and complete investigations in new cases in a time-bound manner.
