CBI Director Praveen Sood gets one year extension

New Delhi: Praveen Sood will continue as CBI Director with the union government extending his tenure by one year after a high-level committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to reach a consensus on his successor.

The panel, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, had recommended that Sood, a 1986-batch IPS officer of Karnataka cadre, may be given a year's extension after they could not zero in on a name for the post.

Following this, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved Sood's extension for a period of one year beyond May 24.

Sood, who was then Karnataka Director General of Police, had taken over as CBI Director on 25 May, 2023 for a period of two years and he was completing his tenure on May 24. Sood started his career in late 1980s from Mysuru where served as the Police Commissioner of Mysuru between 2004 and 2007.

A tech-savvy officer, who hails from Himachal Pradesh's Kangra, Sood had joined IPS at the age of 22 years. Born in 1964, he had completed civil engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi besides holding a post-graduation degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru and the Maxwell School of Governance, Syracuse University in New York.

During the past two years, Sood has supervised investigation of high profile cases involving high net-worth individuals and matters having inter-state and international ramifications. He also strengthened the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) and the Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) in Karnataka.