Rishi Kumar Shukla, former Director-General of Police of Madhya Pradesh has been appointed as the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for two years. Shukla has worked as a 1983 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the M.P. cadre.
A committee, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha has chosen Shukla from a panel of several names.
The Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge has however submitted a dissent note on Shukla’s appointment, saying he did not meet the required criteria as he had not worked in any anti-corruption agency. He has also stressed that the criteria decided at the meeting were diluted by adding general investigation experience as experience of investigation of anti-corruption cases.
Shukla’s appointment comes at a time when the agency is mired in a series of controversies related to a bitter fight between two top officials, former Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana, both of whom were shunted out following serious corruption allegations against them.
Shukla’s appointment also coincides with the agency’s investigation into high profile cases involving top politicians and political opponents of the NDA government.
Among the cases are the recently lodged illegal mining case involving former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav, land acquisition case involving former CM of Haryana Bhupinder Hooda and Aircel Maxis case with former Finance Minister P Chidambaram named as accused among others.
