New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate officer Rajeshwar Singh has opted for and been granted voluntary retirement from service (VRS) by the Union government. He is expected to join the Bharatiya Janata Party and contest the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.Singh, who was serving as the joint director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Lucknow so far, tweeted to announce that he was ‘hanging up his boots’.The Hindu has reported that through his orders as an ED officer, property worth over Rs 4,000 crore has been attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.Singh has headed some high-profile investigations involving politicians now in the opposition, like the 2G spectrum allocation case, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the money laundering cases against former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, the Aircel Maxis and VVIP choppers case.Last year, The Wire had revealed that Singh and members of his family were selected as probable targets for surveillance by an Indian client of the Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, which sells the Pegasus malware. The leaked list of possible clients have not only two of Singh’s numbers but those of four numbers belonging to three women from his family.“Today my request for voluntary retirement (VRS) from the service of Government of India has been approved. The caravan of 24 years of tireless and conscientious hard work, carried out in a relentless manner, has reached a point of transition today,” he stated in a letter attached with the Twitter post on Monday night.Singh also expressed deep gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath and ED director S.K. Mishra.As my professional journey of 24 years turns to a transition today, on this occasion, I express my deep seated gratitude to the Hon PM Shri @narendramodi ji, Hon HM Shri @AmitShah ji and FM Smt @nsitharaman ji, CM Shri @myogiadityanath ji, Shri S K Mishra, Director ED and 1/2 pic.twitter.com/IBXP1TaSoE— Rajeshwar Singh (@RajeshwarS73) January 31, 2022“I join the PM’s mission to make India a Vishwa Guru, as a participant, to contribute with conviction and integrity in this process of nation-building,” he also said.The officer began his civil service career with the Uttar Pradesh police, where he served for about 10 years while the rest were in the ED.The officer had applied for VRS late last year.Several news outlets have quoted unnamed sources to say Singh may contest the Uttar Pradesh polls on a BJP ticket. A B.Tech and PhD in police, human rights and social justice, Singh joined the ED in 2007 on deputation and was permanently absorbed into the ED cadre in 2014.“I am deeply satisfied that despite various threats and pressure tactics from unscrupulously corrupt leaders, my courage to do my job without bowing down has been appreciated time and again by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” he stated after announcing his VRS.In June 2018, the finance ministry submitted a secret report to the Supreme Court, purportedly carrying details of a phone call received by Singh from Dubai. The report is said to have been prepared by country’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and handed over to the department of revenue in the finance ministry, under which the ED functions.The then ED director Karnal Singh had issued a press statement saying the overseas call received by Rajeshwar Singh pertained to an ongoing investigation.The government had also launched an investigation against Rajeshwar Singh for a letter in which he had made a scathing attack on the then revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia questioning if the latter had developed animosity against him and sided with scamsters. Singh was subsequently issued a notice seeking an explanation for alleged insubordination in the context of this letter by the revenue department, to which he has replied with regrets.That letter, PTI reported, was sent through official channels to the agency’s chief Karnal Singh but it was never forwarded to Adhia.Accusations of certain other alleged irregularities made against Singh were probed by the ED, the CBI and the Central Vigilance Commission, and a report was sent to the court and the government stating that there was no merit in the allegations. The inquiry was later closed.Singh, who carried out numerous encounters during his stint in the uniform, is married to IPS officer Laxmi Singh, who is currently serving as the Inspector General of Lucknow police range.(With PTI inputs)