Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer B. Balamurugan was suspended on Tuesday, months after he demanded Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s sacking over an Enforcement Directorate case.
According to reports, the Tamil Nadu-based officer was to retire on Wednesday.
Balamurugan, who was holding the post of Deputy Commissioner of Goods and Service Tax (GST) in Chennai, had written a letter to President Droupadi Murmu in July 2023 demanding the dismissal of the Union finance minister for “converting” the ED into an extended arm of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, after taking over the charge, has successfully converted the Enforcement Directorate into BJP Policy Enforcement Directorate,” the letter had said.
He sent the letter after the ED issued summons to two dalit farmer brothers—Kannaiyan and Krishnan—in Salem district in a money laundering case. It is alleged that the brothers had a land dispute case against BJP’s Salem East district secretary Gunashekar, whom the farmers have accused of illegally trying to grab their land, reported The News Minute.
On January 4, the ED claimed that they would close the case against the farmers, but they haven’t done it yet. According to reports, Balamurugan’s wife Dalit Pravina is the lawyer representing the farmers in the case.