CHENNAI: Nearly a month after an Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer of Tamil Nadu, wrote to the President of India demanding the dismissal of Nirmala Sitharaman from the post of Union Finance Minister ‘in order to save the Directorate of Enforcement (ED)’, the officer in question – a CGST official - has been placed under suspension.

The officer suspended by the finance ministry has been identified as B Balamurugan, who had been serving as a deputy commission of GST and CE, Chennai (north). He had been placed under suspension as a part of the disciplinary action contemplated against him by the department. He has been asked not to leave the headquarters while under suspension.

A month ago, Balamurugan citing the ED summons to the farmers in Attur, near Salem, had said, “the ED’s involvement in a land dispute case, where the farmers accuse a local BJP leader of attempting an illegal land grab, has raised eyebrows. The summons, coupled with the mention of the farmers’ caste as ‘Hindu Pallars’ on the envelope, has led to further outrage.”