Karnataka DGP Praveen Sood appointed as CBI Director

Sood will be in charge for a period of two years

Karnataka Director General of Police Praveen Sood was on Sunday appointed as the CBI Director and will succeed incumbent SS Jaiswal.

The appointment came a day after a high-powered committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi shortlisted three candidates for the post.

From this, the Appointments Committee of Cabinet chose Sood for the top post in the CBI, the country's premier investigating agency.

Sood, a 1986-batch Karnataka cadre officer, will succeed Jaiswal who is superannuating on May 25 and has been given the appointment for two years from the date of assumption of charge of the office, according to the order by Department of Personnel and Training.

A CBI Director has a fixed tenure of two years, which can be extended up to five years.

The three member panel which included Sood's name comprised of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has submitted a note of dissent citing procedural flaws.

Sources said the names of Sood, Madhya Pradesh DGP Sudhir Kumar Saxena and Fire Service, Civil Defence and Home Guards Director General Taj Hassan were cleared by the panel.

As per procedure, the Department of Personnel and Training prepares a list of serving IPS officers of the three senior-most batches to consider for the post of CBI Director. The list was later pruned and the high-level panel zeroed in on three names.

Then the names were sent to the two-member Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister, which chooses one and makes the appointment. Home Minister Amit Shah is the second member of the panel.