The Supreme Court on Tuesday held as illegal the third extension granted to the Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra and curtailed his extended tenure to July 31.

       A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said in view of the peer review being conducted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) this year and to enable smooth transition, Mishra's tenure will be till July 31.

       Meanwhile, on Supreme Court verdict that the extension of tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra is illegal, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, says "This is a slap on the government's face. The motive to give an extension has been questioned by the Supreme Court verdict".

       Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said his party has maintained from the beginning that the extension of tenure of the ED director is "totally illegal".

       "The Congress party's stand has been vindicated. The government has been exposed today," he said.

       Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala, who had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the extension of tenure, said the apex court also needs to reconsider the decision upholding the validity of the law on extension of tenure of ED and CBI directors.

       In a tweet in Hindi, Surjewala said that "suppressing the voice of the people being raised through the Opposition, destabiliing democratically elected opposition governments in states, and getting the leaders of the opposition to join their party after threatening them is the motive of the BJP".

       "The whole country is watching how the Modi government has been using the investigative agencies as frontal units of the BJP," he said.

       "Today, this decision of the Supreme Court has also proved once again that the Modi government is trying to strangle democracy in broad daylight by keeping the Constitution and the law in check," he alleged.

       "We respect the verdict of the honourable Supreme Court. We will abide by the law," says BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi on Supreme Court verdict terming the third extension granted to the Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra as illegal.