Shukla first IPS officer from MP cadre to be appointed CBI chief

New CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla is the first officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre to be appointed to the coveted post, officials said Saturday. Fifty-eight-year-old Shukla, a 1983-batch IPS officer who had served as the Madhya Pradesh Police chief for nearly two-and-a-half years, was on Saturday appointed the chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), established in its current form in 1963.

The founder-director of the agency, D P Kohli, an IPS of Uttar Pradesh cadre, had served as Inspector General of Police of Madhya Bharat, which later emerged as Madhya Pradesh after being merged with Vidhya Pradesh and Bhopal states. "Shukla is a no nonsense officer and a hard task master. He will do his duty with full commitment, integrity and sincerity as has always been maintained by him all though his career," said a senior IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, posted in intelligence agency in Delhi, requesting anonymity.

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 minimised, they said.

Although he has not served in the CBI, he was in the Intelligence Bureau where he handled several sensitive matters during his two stints -- between 1992 and 1996, and between 2000 and 2005, they said. After passing out from the National Police Academy, Shukla started his career as the Additional Superintendent of Police in Raipur (now in Chhattisgarh) in 1985.

He also served in Damoh, Shivpuri and Mandsaur districts in different capacities, before taking over as DGP. He was appointed as Madhya Pradesh's Director General of Police (DGP) in 2016 by the then BJP government but was recently removed from the post and made as the chairman of MP Police Housing Corporation after a tiff with the newly formed Congress government led by chief minister Kamal Nath, according to state government officials.

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.

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