Hyderabad: Director of the Enforcement Directorate Sanjay Kumar Mishra has warned of punitive action against officers found leaking information in connection with a case that is under investigation.
In an order issued on May 21, the Director stated, “It has been observed that certain information relating to ongoing investigations have been published in the media. The information relating to impending action may jeopardise the interest of ongoing investigations. To avoid unwarranted interaction with media, a technical circular was earlier issued. However, it has been noticed that the aforesaid circular has not been followed.”
Warning the officers, the order said, “Henceforth, if any officer, other than the authorised officer is found interacting with media, the same should be brought to the knowledge of the Principal Special Director or undersigned immediately. Any deviation will amount to dereliction of duty liable for punitive action.”
It is learnt that, the order was issued following certain leaks to the media in connection with the ED’s investigation in the Rs 1,875 crore ICICI-Videocon loan case involving ICICI Bank’s former CEO and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar.
