Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate will have a new chief in Kochi. Senior IRS officer Maneesh Godra took charge as the ED joint director. Godra will lead all the ED investigations in Kerala including Life Mission, gold smuggling and black money trade.

The central government has appointed a new joint director of ED in Kochi with the aim of intensifying the investigations in Kerala.

Earlier, the ED had a joint director in Kochi. But after he was transferred, the assistant director was leading the investigations. ED was functioning under the supervision of the joint director in Chennai.

However, during an evaluation meeting of ED held in Kochi while investigating the god smuggling case, a demand was raised that a joint director was needed in Kochi. Following this, Maneesh Godra was appointed.