  Ground state band of $^{140}$Gd has been investigated following their
population in the $^{112}$Sn($^{35}$Cl,~$\alpha$p2n)$^{140}$Gd reaction at 195
MeV of beam energy using a large array of Compton suppressed HPGe clovers as
the detection setup. Apart from other spectroscopic measurements, level
lifetimes of the states have been extracted using the Doppler Shift Attenuation
Method. Extracted quadrupole moment along with the pairing independent cranked
Nilsson-Strutinsky model calculations for the quadrupole band reveal that the
nucleus preferably attains triaxiality with $\gamma$ = -30$^\circ$. The
calculation though shows a slight possibility of rotation around the longest
possible principal axis at high spin $\sim$ 30$\hbar$ which is beyond the scope
of the present experiment.
