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Cabinet panel curtails ED tenure of Satyabrata Kumar and orders his immediate repatriation

Officials described the order as routine with Kumar returning after more than a decade heading major ED money-laundering investigations

ED special director Satyabrata Kumar at a BPCL event (Facebook:BharatPetroleumCorporation)

Overview

  • The Appointments Committee of Cabinet approved on May 30 the curtailment of Kumar’s deputation, ending his extended term originally set to run until October 2026.
  • A 2004-batch IRS officer, Kumar joined the Enforcement Directorate in 2013 as joint director in Mumbai and moved to lead the eastern region in Kolkata in September 2024.
  • He has spent about 12 years on ED deputation, making him one of the longest-serving officers in the federal probe agency.
  • Under his supervision, ED probed high-profile cases including the ₹12,500-crore PNB scam with Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, the Vijay Mallya loan fraud and the Mahadev app betting investigation.
  • ED officials called the transfer a routine cadre movement yet noted it could signal a new assignment leveraging Kumar’s track record in complex economic crime probes.