New Delhi: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a one-year extension for Enforcement Directorate Director Rahul Navin, allowing him to continue in the post until 13 August 2027. The decision comes as the agency has nearly doubled the number of main prosecution complaints it filed in the last financial year, while provisional asset attachments rose sharply during the same period.
A 1993 batch Indian Revenue Services officer, Navin took charge as Director-in-Charge of the Enforcement Directorate on 15 September 2023, following the end of Sanjay Kumar Mishra’s tenure, and was appointed full-time Director on 14 August 2024.
The extension comes against a significant increase in the agency’s prosecution output. The ED filed 333 main prosecution complaints under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2024-25. The number rose to 657 in 2025-26. Including 155 supplementary prosecution complaints, the agency filed 812 prosecution complaints during 2025-26.
More than 41 per cent of all the prosecution complaints filed under the PMLA up to 31 March 2026, had been filed during the preceding two financial years. The figures cover the period in which Navin served first as Director-in-Charge and subsequently as full-time Director.
The increase, however, does not mean that all the cases originated during Navin’s tenure. A substantial part of the ED’s caseload consists of investigations that began years earlier.
The more relevant measure of his tenure is therefore the extent to which investigations inherited from earlier periods progressed towards arrests, provisional attachments and prosecution complaints.
The Delhi excise policy case is one example. The CBI FIR and ED investigation originated in 2022, before Navin took charge. However, the ED arrested AAP MP Sanjay Singh in October 2023, BRS leader K Kavitha in March 2024 and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in March 2024. Subsequent prosecution activity, including supplementary complaints, also took place during Navin’s tenure.
The Jharkhand land and illegal mining investigation similarly predates Navin’s tenure. The investigation had already resulted in action against several individuals before September 2023. The subsequent summons to then Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his arrest on 31 January.2024 and the filing of a prosecution complaint in March 2024 occurred after Navin assumed charge.
The National Herald case is another legacy investigation in which a major enforcement milestone occurred during Navin’s tenure. The ED issued a provisional attachment order covering assets valued at about Rs 751.9 crore in November 2023. The attachment was subsequently confirmed by the PMLA Adjudicating Authority.
In the banking and financial fraud sector, the same pattern is visible in the Concast Steel-UCO Bank matter. The underlying banking fraud investigation predates Navin’s tenure, but the ED arrested former UCO Bank chairman and managing director Subodh Kumar Goel on 16 May 2025 and subsequently filed a supplementary prosecution complaint. The agency also pursued provisional attachment of assets in the case.
The Deepak Cable India investigation provides a more recent example of multiple enforcement stages occurring in quick succession. The ED arrested former managing director K Venkateshwara Rao on 2 Jun 2026. On 30 July, it issued a provisional attachment order covering immovable properties valued at Rs 51.28 crore, while the market value of the properties was estimated at about Rs 150 crore. The agency filed its prosecution complaint before the Principal City Civil and Sessions Judge in Bengaluru on 31 July.
In West Bengal, the recruitment and school service commission investigations also began before Navin’s tenure. The arrests of former minister Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee took place in 2022. The investigation subsequently expanded into municipal recruitment and related networks, with supplementary prosecution complaints filed during Navin’s tenure, including a second supplementary complaint in June 2026.
The increase in prosecution complaints has been accompanied by a substantial rise in provisional attachments. ED data for 2025-26 showed provisional attachments worth Rs 81,422 crore, compared with Rs 30,036 crore in the preceding financial year. The cumulative value of provisional attachments under the PMLA stood at Rs 2,36,016.61 crore as of 31 March 2026.
Navin has also sought to reduce the time taken to complete investigations. In February 2026, he directed ED officers to expedite PMLA probes, with the agency working towards completing most investigations within one to two years, except in exceptionally complicated cases.
Another element of the agency’s recent approach has been restitution. The ED has increasingly highlighted the use of Sections 8(7) and 8(8) of the PMLA to restore assets to victims and legitimate claimants where the statutory conditions are met. The agency has reported that property worth about Rs 63,142.65 crore has been restored to victims of money laundering or legitimate claimants.
The ED has cited examples involving banks, depositors and homebuyers, where assets recovered through the PMLA process can be restored under the statutory framework. During 2024-25, the agency said proceeds worth Rs 15,261 crore were restored to victims in 30 cases. It also reported that more than Rs 22,000 crore had been returned to public sector banks and depositors in cases involving Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Sahara.
The restitution figures are separate from provisional attachment and confiscation. A provisional attachment order is subject to confirmation by the Adjudicating Authority, while confiscation is governed by subsequent stages of the PMLA process. The distinction is significant when assessing the ED’s enforcement record.
As of 31 March 2026, the ED reported 8,851 ECIRs, 2,396 prosecution complaints, 466 cases in which charges had been framed and 60 completed PMLA trials. Fifty-six of the completed trials resulted in convictions.
The agency’s reported conviction rate of 93.33 per cent therefore relates to completed trials, rather than to all investigations or prosecution complaints. Most cases filed by the ED remain at earlier stages of the judicial process.
The government’s decision to extend Navin’s tenure does not by itself establish the specific reasons for the decision. However, the extension provides continuity at a time when the agency’s measurable output in prosecution complaints and provisional attachments has increased substantially, while its stated emphasis has shifted towards completing investigations, securing alleged proceeds of crime and facilitating restitution where permitted under the PMLA.
