Late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case was handed over to the CBI on Wednesday by the Supreme Court, and a team of the central agency’s super cops landed in the financial capital of the country a day later. Reportedly, the team which will be investigating no less than a “murder link” in the case consists of senior officers with an impeccable track record, particularly in high profile cases. The seasoned officers of the team specialise in anti-corruption and scam-related investigations, while also being experts in investigating complex and high-profile murders and other criminal cases.
The team consists of top-level CBI officers who are part of the Anti-Corruption Unit VI of the agency. The team of super cops comprises top names, such as Manoj Shashidhar (Joint Director), Gagandeep Gambhir (Deputy Inspector General), Anil Kumar Yadav (Additional Superintendent of Police) and Nupur Prasad (Superintendent of Police). This particular unit of the CBI is famous for investigating high-profile cases, such as those of Vijay Mallya, Coalgate (coal scam) and AgustaWestland. This is the same team that had also successfully extradited Christian Michel, the middleman in the AgustaWestland scam, from Dubai.
Manoj Shashidhar – Joint Director
The senior-most cop of the team, Manoj Shashidhar is a 1994 batch IPS officer. He, in the past, has handled the Vijay Mallya and AugustaWestland scam cases. Shashidhar has previously served as the Vadodara Police Commissioner in the Ahmedabad Crime Branch, Joint Commissioner of Police of Ahmedabad, and also as the Superintendent of Police in five districts spread across Gujarat. He also held the post of Additional DG of State Intelligence Bureau (IB) in the past. The police officer was appointed as the Joint Director of the CBI in January this year by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also a part of the appointment of Shashidhar to the post.
Gagandeep Gambhir – Deputy Inspector General
A topper from Punjab University, Gagandeep Gambhir has been in the CBI since 2016. She is a 2004 batch IPS officer who in the past has served as a Senior Superintendent of Police in several districts of the state, including Rajkot. She too has been part of the team investigating the Vijay Mallya case and has also been involved in a probe involving former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav in an illegal coal mining scam. She was later shifted to the unit probing the Srijan scam and the case against journalist Upendra Rai.
Nupur Prasad – Superintendent of Police
Nupur Prasad is a seasoned crime investigator who has probed several murder cases and many financial crimes as well. She has previously held the post of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shahdara in Delhi and is a 2007 batch IPS officer. Along with others in the team, she too has probed the Vijay Mallya and AgustaWestland scams.
Anil Kumar Yadav – Additional Superintendent of Police
Anil Kumar Yadav, a 2018 batch IPS officer is a recipient of the 2015 Police medal. Hailing from Madhya Pradesh, Yadav has been involved in the investigations into the Commonwealth Games scam, Shopian rape case and the Vijay Mallya case. He has also probed the suspicious death of MBBS student Namrata Damore in connection with the Vyapam scam.
It would, therefore, not be an overstatement to say that Sushant Singh Rajput’s case is in safe, and the best of hands. Those involved in his death should be very scared of the team of super cops which has now landed in Mumbai to probe the actor’s death case. Perhaps, it was the fear of the said team which was making many people back in Mumbai jittery at the prospect of a CBI investigation into the matter.
