New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI) Kapil Raj, a former ED officer who supervised the arrests of two chief ministers under the anti-money laundering law, has resigned from government service after serving for about 16 years.

An order issued by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday said the "President of India was pleased to accept his resignation from the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes) with effect from July 17." The 45-year-old officer belonged to the 2009 batch of the IRS.

Sources close to the officer spoke to PTI and attributed "personal reasons" for his resignation from government service where he had about 15 more years to serve, given the age of superannuation is 60.

Raj served in the ED for about eight years and recently completed his deputation in the federal anti-money laundering agency.

He was posted as an Additional Commissioner in the GST Intelligence wing in Delhi till he resigned.

The officer supervised the arrest of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in January last year at Ranchi in an alleged land scam case.

The JMM leader met the governor at Raj Bhavan and resigned from his post before being taken into custody by the ED.

Raj was present during this meeting, soon after which his team took him into custody.

Few months later in March 2024, the officer reached the Flag Staff Road residence of the then Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal following ED searches at his government bungalow.

Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 and Raj was present while the arrest memo was prepared and served on the AAP supremo.

The officer used to prepare and vet questionnaires for these high-profile political arrestees and he was known to visit search locations many a times to closely monitor the investigation and boost the morale of his teams, a senior ED officer said.

Raj, a B. Tech (Electronics) graduate, headed the Ranchi zone of the ED as its joint director. He also supervised some high-profile investigations of the agency that were undertaken by the headquarters investigation unit (HIU) that probes politically sensitive and complex cases.

While being posted in Mumbai as a deputy director of the ED, the officer also investigated money laundering cases against diamantaire duo Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi apart from DHFL and Iqbal Mirchi cases.

Raj hails from a middle class family based in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, the official said. PTI NES ZMN

Anti-money laundering enforcement: officer who led high-profile political arrests resigns from government service after agency deputation. A senior IRS officer resigned after completing a deputation to the federal anti money laundering agency where he supervised enforcement actions under the PMLA, including arrests and searches of high profile political figures; his resignation was formally accepted by the Ministry of Finance and follows multiple senior postings and supervisory roles in zonal and headquarters investigations.