Former Madhya Pradesh Police chief Rishi Kumar Shukla is new CBI director

New Delhi: Ending speculation, the government on Saturday appointed former Madhya Pradesh Police chief Rishi Kumar Shukla as the director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), weeks after controversial removal of Alok Kumar Verma from the post.

According to a personnel ministry order, the appointment of 58-year-old Mr Shukla, a 1983-batch IPS officer, will be for a fixed tenure of two years.

The appointment of Mr Shukla, who was removed as Madhya Pradesh Police chief earlier this week by the new Congress dispensation in the state, triggered a fresh war of words between the government and the Opposition party.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, a member of the panel that decided on the appointment, sent a dissent note to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the selection criterion was diluted in violation of law and Supreme Court judgments.

However, Union minister Jitendra Singh claimed that Mr Kharge tried to “manipulate” the criteria with the ulterior motive of accommodating some of his preferred officers.

Union minister Jitend-ra Singh said that Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who is part of the committee along with Mr Modi and Mr Kharge, had fully endorsed the objective criteria applied for selecting the head.

Mr Kharge’s main objection was to the inclusion of investigation experience only, and not experience in investigating anti-corruption cases, in the criteria. Mr Shukla takes charge of the country’s premier investigation agency at a time it has been grappled with controversies.

He will take over the charge of CBI from M Nageshwara Rao, who is working as the interim chief of the probe agency.

Shukla is at present chairman of Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation in Bhopal.