Rishi Kumar Shukla second officer from Madhya Pradesh to be appointed CBI director

New CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla is the second officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, after the agency's founder-director D P Kohli, to be appointed to the coveted post, officials said Saturday. Fifty-eight-year-old Shukla, a 1983-batch IPS officer, was on Saturday appointed the chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), established in its current form in 1963.

He was Director General of Police of Madhya Pradesh for nearly two-and-a-half years. He is known for ensuring quick investigations into cases of rape in the state during his tenure as the police chief, leading to a substantial decrease in such a heinous crime. A post-graduate in Philosophy and a native of Gwalior, Shukla ensured that charge sheets in criminal cases were filed at the earliest to ensure timely start of trial so that delay in delivery of justice could be minimized, they said.

Although he has not served in the CBI, he was in the Intelligence Bureau where he handled several sensitive matters, they said. After passing out from the National Police Academy, Shukla served in Raipur, Damoh, Shivpuri and Mandsaur districts in different capacities, before taking over as DGP.

He was recently transferred from the post of DGP to the Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation in Bhopal as chairman. He underwent training in the USA for crisis management and hostage negotiations, besides another stint of training in London, they said. Shukla was appointed the CBI Director for a fixed tenure of two years. Shukla takes charge of the country's premier investigation agency at a time it has been grappled with controversies.

The post of the CBI chief has been lying vacant since January 10 after the unceremonious exit of Alok Kumar Verma, who had been engaged in a bitter fight with Gujarat-cadre IPS officer and former CBI special director Rakesh Asthana over corruption charges. Both Verma and Asthana had accused each other of corruption.

The CBI was established in the current form in 1963 through a Cabinet resolution and the then Chief of Special Police Establishment, Dharamnath Prasad Kohli, was made its first chief. Kohli had earlier served as the chief of police forces of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Bharat, which later emerged as Madhya Pradesh after being merged with Vidhya Pradesh and Bhopal states.

(With inputs from agencies.)