The central government on May 25, led by a three-member selection committee appointed Maharashtra cadre IPS officer of 1985 batch, Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, currently Director-General of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director for two years. The high-level committee comprising of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India and the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha made the decision after much deliberation — picking him from a panel of three other shortlisted officers.
The order issued by the government said, “The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has, based on the panel recommended by the Committee, approved the appointment of Shri Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, IPS(MH:1985) as Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a period of two years from the date of assumption of charge of the office or until further orders whichever is earlier.”
The agency had been working without a regular director for over three months. CBI Additional Director Praveen Sinha, a 1988-batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, was appointed the acting chief of the agency after Rishi Kumar Shukla completed his two-year tenure on February 3.
The appointment of Subodh Kumar as the CBI Director has immediately sent shockwaves across two state governments viz. Maharashtra and West Bengal. It is interesting to note that Subodh Kumar, up until last year was the Director-General of Police (DGP) in Maharashtra. The then Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government had brought him into the state in 2018 as the Police Commissioner of Mumbai, where he was later elevated to the post of DGP.
However, with Maha Vikas Aghadi government coming to power, Subodh Kumar became increasingly frustrated by the working of the Uddhav Thackeray regime. As reported by TFI, miffed by the reshuffle of IPS officers and their transfers within the state, which was conducted without paying attention to his advice, Subodh Kumar had sought central deputation last year.
Read More: Frustrated with arbitrary transfers and postings, Maharashtra DGP to take up central deputation
After receiving NOC from the state government, Subodh joined the CISF in December 2020. The reshuffling of the IPS officers which frustrated Subodh was exposed this year as the transfer racket, carefully orchestrated by former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Subodh’s accession to the top of the premier investigative agency that is currently handling the high profile extortion case of Maharashtra might help him seek redemption from the state government that treated him with no sincerity.
As for West Bengal — reported by TFI, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on May 9 granted permission to the CBI to prosecute TMC leaders Sovan Chatterjee, Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra and Subrata Mukherjee in the Narada sting tapes.
However, soon after the arrests, a huge crowd of alleged TMC goons had gathered outside the CBI’s Kolkata office in the Nizam Palace area, apparently looking to frighten the premier investigative agency of the country.
Mamata Banerjee held a dharna at the spot, contending that the way the ministers were arrested “without due procedure”, the CBI “will have to arrest me too”. The CM ensured that a large crowd of miscreants was present at the spot and media cameras were all pointed out at the CBI office.
The mob did not allow the CBI officers to move out of the office and present the accused in front of the court. As a result, they were produced before the special CBI court through the virtual model.
Subodh Kumar is a known hard taskmaster and he will be well versed with the feud the Mamata government has with the CBI. Thus one can expect the Narada scam to reach its deserving fruition as CBI under Subodh Kumar leads the case into its endgame.
Both Uddhav and Mamata are known for their regressive style of politics where they try to keep every organ of the executive under their thumbs. However, Subodh Kumar appears to be the wrong person that these two leaders would like to rile up when he has the power of the CBI in his hand.
