Rajeshwar Singh: A brand new beat

This unmistakable strongman symbol has continuously been related to Singh’s profession —be it throughout his stint with the Uttar Pradesh Police or the rustic’s premier anti-money-laundering company.

In his decade-long profession as a police officer in UP — from 1997 to 2007 — Singh, now 48, cracked down on mafia gangs in Lucknow and Allahabad, with the excessive level of his profession being the arrest of strongman Atiq Ahmed. A recipient of the police medal for gallantry, Singh has with reference to two dozen encounters to his title — this, many would argue, sits at odds along with his legislation stage and doctorate in human rights from Delhi College.

An alumnus of IIT, Dhanbad, Singh operated within the ED — which he joined in 2007 as an assistant director — with out a much less swagger. From the Madhu Koda case to the Sahara case, from 2G rip-off to the 2010 Commonwealth Video games case, from the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy case to the coal rip-off instances, Singh probed nearly the entire high-profile instances of the UPA technology, involving politicians of the then ruling dispensation.

Singh’s nomination because the BJP candidate from the important thing Sarojini Nagar constituency in Lucknow comes at a time when the ED is accused of going after Opposition politicians. Whilst there were cases of CBI administrators changing into governors after retirement or getting into politics, Singh’s resolution to enroll in the BJP raises questions of propriety, for the reason that he used to be a serving officer of a central company and give up to enroll in electoral politics.

Rajeshwar Singh probed high-profile instances such because the 2G rip-off, Sahara case, CWG case, Aircel Maxis deal case, and the INX Media case. (Twitter/Rajeshwar Singh)

Questions have additionally been raised over the allegedly political nature of the ED’s investigations, with their tardy growth and deficient conviction file. Whilst its first conviction got here within the Madhu Koda case, greater than 10 years after the ED started probing cash laundering instances, its marquee 2G rip-off probe led to acquittal of the entire accused.

An important case of Rajeshwar’s profession used to be the 2012 Aircel-Maxis deal, through which the accused come with then finance minister and senior Congress chief P Chidambaram. Because the regime modified in 2014, he probed a sequence of instances — from the INX Media deal to irregularities within the Rajasthan ambulance scheme and investments in Vasan Healthcare — the place both Chidambaram or his son Karti used to be named. Chidambaram despatched time in detention over it.

“He has buddies all over, be it in ministries, felony fraternity and each political party. I wouldn’t were stunned if, had there been a Congress govt, he were given a price ticket from the Congress,” mentioned a senior IPS officer

Assets mentioned this should not have long past overlooked through the highest BJP management, which holds Chidambaram accountable, as House Minister, for probe into the come upon killings in Gujarat that noticed the arrest of Amit Shah.

Extra just lately, as head of the Lucknow Zone within the ED, Singh led the investigation towards Gayatri Prajapati, a Samajwadi Party chief and mining minister within the earlier Akhilesh Yadav govt, in a case of alleged cash laundering and unlawful mining.

Singh’s former colleagues within the company communicate of him as a pointy and meticulous officer.

“He’s clever and really hardworking, with a deep working out of instances and, above all, takes daring selections,” says former ED Director Karnal Singh, who supervised Singh’s probe into the Aircel-Maxis and INX Media instances, amongst others.

“We had been at all times a step forward in each case. Earlier than an accused may make a transfer, we had been willing for the court docket. All through interrogations, Singh may marvel even essentially the most well-prepared suspect with proof,” mentioned former ED deputy director Kamal Singh, who had labored with Singh because the days of the 2G rip-off case.

Some other shut colleague, retired deputy director Satyendra Singh, recalls him as a “true chief” to his subordinates. “Regardless of his commanding presence within the company, he used to be at all times heat, even in hostile scenarios. As soon as, some delicate main points of the 2G case were given leaked to the media and the superiors had been very indignant. He shielded all folks through taking complete accountability and requested for motion to be taken towards him,” Satyendra Singh mentioned.

Then again, past his qualities as an officer, Singh’s upward thrust used to be additionally formed through his talent to paintings the facility circles. His critics say he discovered a “dad or mum angel” in each political dispensation. There used to be a time when he best Congress politicians attended his events.

“He has buddies all over, be it within the ministries, the central companies or the felony fraternity. He may additionally transfer very easily around the political spectrum. I wouldn’t were stunned if, had there been a Congress govt on the Centre, he were given a price ticket from the Congress,” mentioned a senior IPS officer who didn’t need to be recognized.

Born in Lucknow, Singh belongs to a circle of relatives of civil servants. His father Ran Bahadur Singh, who rose from being a UP Police carrier officer to an IPS inside of a span of 12 years, ultimately retired as DIG of the state capital.

Singh’s spouse Laxmi Singh is an IPS officer recently posted as IG, Lucknow. Meenakshi Singh, one in all his two sisters, is an Indian Earnings Provider (IRS) officer married to UP-cadre IPS officer Rajiv Krishna, who’s recently posted as ADG, Agra. His different sister, Abha Singh, an Indian Postal Provider officer-turned-lawyer, is married to Maharashtra cadre IPS-turned-lawyer Y P Singh. His brother Rameshwar Singh, additionally an IRS officer, is recently an Source of revenue Tax commissioner.

All the way through his 14-year ED profession, Singh had best legal professionals equivalent to Prashant Bhushan, Harish Salve and BJP MP Subramanian Swamy arguing in court docket to acquire coverage for him towards allegations of malpractice or disproportionate belongings.

In 2011, on the top of the 2G probe, when allegations had been made towards Singh through the Sahara Crew, a Excellent Courtroom Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A Okay Ganguly now not handiest issued contempt understand towards the crowd but additionally supplied Singh coverage from slander.

Consistent with resources, throughout the 2014 basic elections, Singh were regarded as through the BJP as a possible candidate for Amroha, however issues had now not labored out.

In 2017, too, when allegations had been made towards Singh to then Earnings Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, a Bench headed through Justice J Chelameswar gave blanket coverage to Singh towards any investigation.

Some other testimony of this goodwill is an episode from 2014 when govt recommend Okay Okay Venugopal went towards the Centre’s transfer to repatriate Singh again to UP, arguing that it might now not be finished because the officer used to be probing the 2G and Aircel-Maxis instances.

Singh had received an order for everlasting absorption within the ED from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in December 2013 however the govt used to be unwilling to soak up him, even after the regime modified in Would possibly 2014. After the subject went to the SC and following Venugopal’s argument, a Bench of Justices H L Dattu and S A Bobde gave the federal government 3 days to soak up Singh into the ED.

By means of his personal account, Singh were accused through Adhia of “manipulating the judiciary, particularly the Excellent Courtroom”, which Singh mentioned used to be “bizarre” and “incredible”, questioning if “such a lot of judges might be manipulated over this type of lengthy time period”.

This used to be a part of a letter that Singh wrote to Adhia on the top of the 2018 combat inside the CBI, accusing him of “siding with scamsters and their associates”.

The 2018 tug of struggle between then CBI director Alok Verma after which particular director Rakesh Asthana used to be the primary primary controversy that had Singh in its crosshairs. On this combat that pressured the High Minister’s Place of job to intrude and push each officials out of the company, Singh used to be rumoured to were siding with Alok Verma.

It noticed a contemporary grievance being filed prior to the Excellent Courtroom towards Singh with the Finance Ministry filing a file that Singh won a choice from Dubai. Despite the fact that the allegation used to be rubbished through then ED Director Karnal Singh, the SC, for the primary time, got rid of the security granted to him and the federal government instituted a probe.

Consistent with an investigation through The Twine, this used to be additionally the time when Singh and his circle of relatives had been indexed as possible objectives of the Pegasus spyware and adware.

“But, the federal government authorised his VRS request and the ruling party has given him a price ticket. And for that, Rajeshwar hasn’t needed to determine outrageous instances in anticipatory obedience. That itself tells you that he used to be at all times larger than his process,” mentioned the IPS officer who spoke on situation of anonymity.