The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has shortened the tenure of Satyabrata Kumar, Special Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and ordered his immediate repatriation to his parent cadre—the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
Kumar, a 2004-batch Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes) officer, was posted as Special Director of Enforcement for ED’s eastern region in Kolkata in September 2024, after earlier serving in Mumbai.
According to the ACC order issued on May 30, “The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the Department of Revenue’s proposal to curtail the deputation tenure of Satyabrata Kumar, IRS (C&IT:2004), and repatriate him to his parent cadre with immediate effect.”
Kumar began his stint at the ED in 2013 as Joint Director in Mumbai, where he oversaw several high-profile investigations. His tenure was extended in 2022, allowing him to serve in the agency until October 2026.
Sources suggest that his return to CBIC may be tied to a significant assignment, given his expertise in probing complex financial crimes.
Among the major cases he supervised are the ₹12,500-crore Punjab National Bank scam involving Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi; the ₹9,200-crore loan fraud linked to Vijay Mallya’s defunct Kingfisher Airlines; alleged terror-financing charges against deceased drug trafficker Iqbal Mirchi; PMLA proceedings against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor; and the probe into the over USD 1 million Mahadev Online Book illegal betting platform.
