A senior Indian Foreign Service officer has quit, after being superseded by Shiv Shankar Menon for the post of foreign secretary.
Secretary (East) Ministry of External Affairs, Rajiv Sikri, an officer of the 1970 batch, is two years senior to Menon.
He met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Sunday and put in his papers, official sources said on Monday.
Sikri met the prime minister as he was leaving for a nine-day visit to Brazil and Cuba.
When contacted, Sikri refused to comment but attended his office.
He was one of the contenders for the top slot in the foreign service, which has gone to 1972 batch officer Menon, India's High Commissioner to Pakistan.
Besides Sikri, Menon superseded 14 other officers.
Sikri had met the prime minister earlier also on September 1, a day after Menon's appointment was announced, and conveyed his anguish over being superseded.
