Hunting Dirty Money

With fewer jurisdictional constraints and a wider functional ambit, the Enforcement Directorate has surpassed the CBI as India’s most prominent investigating agency

- Namrata Biji Ahuja

Move over CBI, for there is a new sheriff in town. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has become the latest nightmare for corrupt politicians, shady tycoons, terrorists, drug-peddling celebrities, Maoist insurgents, wildlife poachers and other high-profile fugitives. The agency, which was set up in May 1956 as an enforcement unit under the department of economic affairs, has now transformed into a crime-fighting juggernaut under the department of revenue. Some of the high-profile targets in the ED’s crosshairs include businessmen such as Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Robert Vadra, and politicians like Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ahmed Patel, P. Chidambaram, Praful Patel and D.K. Shivakumar.

Much of the ED’s transformation has taken place under director S.K. Mishra, who took charge in October 2018. An unassuming officer from the Indian Revenue Service, Mishra prefers to keep a low profile. Even a photograph of the director is not available on the ED website. Mishra works six days a week out of the ED’s modest

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