Samikhsya Bureau
The central government on Saturday appointed 1983 batch Indian Police Service officer and former director general of police of Madhya Pradesh, Rishi Kumar Shukla, as the new chief of the Central Bureau for Investigation (CBI), thus ending the suspense over the appointment of the new director of the investigation agency.
The appointments committee of the cabinet gave its approval to the appointment of Shukla from among the names sent to it by the three-member panel for the selection of the CBI chief, which comprises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief justice Ranjan Gogoi and leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
‘’The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of IPS Rishi Kumar Shukla as the new CBI Director for a period of two years from the date of assumption of charge of the office,’’ a release by the DoPT said.
The high level committee for the selection of the CBI chief had held its second meeting on February 1 to decide on the names and prepared a panel of names for ACC approval.
The appointment comes after the Supreme Court, on Friday, pulled up the Centre for the delay in appointing the CBI chief and said it was “averse” to the arrangement of an interim CBI director. “The post of CBI director is sensitive and important, and it is not good to keep an interim director of the agency for longer period,’’ the Supreme court had observed.
The post of the CBI chief had been vacant since Alok Verma, who had been engaged in a bitter fight with his deputy and Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana over corruption allegations, was removed by the PM-led panel and was given a new posting. Verma chose to resign saying he had already reached superannuation when he was appointed as CBI chief.
Shukla will take over the post from M. Nageswara Rao, who took charge as the interim director from Alok Kumar after his removal. Known as being a text book man, Shukla shunted out as director general of police of Madhya Pradesh recently after the installation of Kamal Nath-led Congress ministry in the state.
Known as an amiable person and man of few words, Shukla had in the past also confronted with the RSS during Shivraj Singh Chouhan regime. In 2016, the state police had a ‘row or minor confabulation’ with the Sangh parivar fountainhead and a RSS functionary was picked up by the police at Balaghat. “But, in the police force we know our former DGP Shukla saheb as a man, who stood by the men in Khakhi and not otherwise despite some pressure,” an informed source told UNI from Bhopal.
Top police sources in Madhya Pradesh also say that new chief minister Kamal Nath was apparently ‘unhappy’ with Shukla as recently an IT cell Congress worker Abhishek was “picked up” by Delhi police in January based on some complaints against him.
Police officials in Madhya Pradesh recall with pride Shukla’s comments to civil society: “All of you may attach police and may even act against police, stage demonstration against us 364 days in the year. But please show us some respect and pay homage to martyrs on October 21, the Police Commemoration Day.”
According to sources, 15 names were considered by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led panel for the post of CBI chief. They include Rajni Kant Mishra, the current director general of the Border Security Force, Y. C. Modi, the current chief of National Investigation Agency and R. R. Bhatnagar, current director general of the Central Reserve Police Force.
(With UNI report)
