IPS Officer Rishi Kumar Shukla takes charge as CBI director
Newly-appointed CBI chief Rishi Kumar Shukla took charge of the probe agency this morning, CBI spokesperson Nitin Wakankar said. Shukla, a 1983-batch IPS officer, took charge at a time when the agency is busy in a dirty turf war with the Kolkata Police, which has spiraled into a political slugfest between the Center and West Bengal government. Here are the details.
58-year-old Shukla is a former DGP of Madhya Pradesh and an Intelligence Bureau veteran. His arrival as a full-fledged director is likely to bring some sort of order in CBI that has moved SC to challenge the action of WB government in ponzi scam cases.
A perplexed interim CBI chief M Nageswara Rao was seen scrambling through resources to counter the state police's action, which not only detained a CBI team which went to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, but also cordoned off the agency's office at CGO complex in Salt Lake. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee started a dharna yesterday protesting against the alleged highhandedness of the Center.
Banerjee also protested the alleged insults meted out to her by PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Her reaction was triggered when a team of CBI officials arrived unannounced at the doors of Kolkata police chief to question him in connection with Saradha and Rose Valley scams. The team was stopped by West Bengal police, and taken to a police station.
The West Bengal police took the action as the agency officials failed to produce any warrant, state police officials said. The investigations in these cases have been sped up in the run-up to general elections, with the investigative agency recently questioning a close aide of Banerjee, Manik Majumdar, at his residence. The CBI even sent a notice to her party's lawmaker Derek O'Brien.
