IPS officer Rishi Kumar Shukla was appointed as the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday, February 2, by a panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This appointment comes after a tumultuous few months for the CBI with its former director Alok Verma accused of bribery by his second-in-command, Rakesh Asthana. This incident led to questions regarding the investigative agency's credibility.
Shukla was chosen from five IPS officers, among whom the only female candidate was Rina Mitra. The new director's tenure as the CBI's director will span for two years.
Shukla is an officer of the 1983 batch from the Madhya Pradesh cadre and was the Director General of Police in the state. Before his appointment, he was the chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation.
"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has, based on the panel recommended by the Committee constituted as per Section 4A(1) of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, approved the appointment of Shri Rishi Kumar Shukla, IPS (MP: 1983) as Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) vice Shri Alok Kumar Verma, IPS (AGMU: 1979), for a period of two years from the date of assumption of charge of the office," the appointment letter by the Department of Personnel and Training read.
Shukla is taking over from Nageswara Rao who was the interim director after Alok Verma unceremonious removal.
Some of Shukla's major challenges as the CBI director will be the probes into the 2G scam, Congress leader P. Chidambaram's charges, the AgustaWestland case, and the investigation of former ICICI MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband.
