NEW DELHI: The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has curtailed the tenure of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) special director, Satyabrata Kumar and repatriated to his parent cadre, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.

Kumar, a 2004 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes), was shifted as Special Director of Enforcement (SDE) of ED’s eastern region in Kolkata in September 2024 and was previously based in Mumbai.

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the proposal of the Department of Revenue for curtailment of deputation tenure of Satyabrata Kumar, IRS(C&IT:2004), Special Director of Enforcement, Directorate of Enforcement and his consequent repatriation to his parent cadre with immediate effect,” the ACC order, issued on May 30 said.

Kumar joined ED in 2013 as its joint director in Mumbai and handled high profile cases while heading the Mumbai’s units. He was given an extension in 2022 to serve in the federal agency till October 2026.

Officials said it was likely that Kumar was being brought back to his parent cadre for an important assignment in view of his investigation skills and track-record in handling complex economic offences.

Some of the high profile cases investigated by ED under his supervision include ₹12,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) case involving accused fugitive diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi; the alleged ₹9,200 -crore bank loan cases involving fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s defunct airline firm, Kingfisher Airlines Limited; alleged terror-financing cases against the deceased narcotics trafficker, Memon Iqbal Mohammed or Iqbal Mirchi; PMLA case against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, who is an accused in the Yes Bank-Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) transactions; and the agency’s PMLA probe related to the USD 1 million-plus Mahadev Online Book (MOB) illegal online betting/gaming cases.