Former Madhya Pradesh Police chief Rishi Kumar Shukla was on Saturday appointed the chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a fixed tenure of two years, according to a personnel ministry order. Shukla, a 1983-batch IPS officer, is at present chairman of Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation in Bhopal. He has been appointed in place of Alok Kumar Verma, who was removed from the post of CBI director on January 10. Shukla was recently transferred from the post of Director General of Madhya Pradesh Police to the police housing corporation. He will have a fixed tenure of two years during which he will have a huge task to restore the credibility of the agency.
#CBIDirector
Ex DGP MP,Rishi Kumar Shukla will have a task to complete probe AgustaWestland scam, 2G scam, coal scam, Sarada ChitScam, Charges against Chidambaram, Chanda Kochhar etc. Wonder why opposition so concerned🙂#RishiKumarShukla #RishiShukla #CBIhttps://t.co/9M0JbTwyUx— Geetika Swami (@SwamiGeetika) February 2, 2019
He joins at a time when CBI is going through a leadership crisis and discontent among subordinate officers, who are upset with their “unjustified transfers”. He will also have a task to complete probes in crucial cases such as the AgustaWestland scam, 2G scam, coal scam, Air India scandal, charges against Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, UP sand mining scam, Saradha and Rosevalley chit fund probes, FIR against former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, among others.
#JustIn | Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, in a dissent note to the Prime Minister, expressed his objection over the appointment of IPS officer Rishi Kumar Shukla as the new #CBIDirector, citing the officer's lack of experience in anti-corruption investigations, reports ANI
— Times of India (@timesofindia) February 2, 2019
On January 10, Alok Verma was removed as boss of the high-profile investigating agency by a panel led by PM Modi, just two days after the Supreme Court had reinstated him in the post. He was transferred to the Fire Services as Director General, after the panel said that as CBI chief, he had “not acted with the integrity expected of him”. Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, representing the opposition, put up a dissenting note saying that the vigilance inquiry had not found evidence that Mr Verma was guilty of bribery.
Breaking: Govt appoints Rishi K Shukla, MP cadre as the next #CBIDirector. pic.twitter.com/jE0RdOJUCo
— rahul tripathi (@rahultripathi) February 2, 2019
The sacked officer refused to take charge as chief of fire services and quit. However, the Home Ministry has decided to conduct disciplinary proceedings against him for failing to take up the new job.