Race for CBI director post narrows down

With barely two weeks remaining for the retirement of Vijay Shankar, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation...

With barely two weeks remaining for the retirement of Vijay Shankar, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Government appears to have narrowed down its choices for his successor to the plum post.

Top sources say that the panel to be placed before the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) for the new director of the premier investigation agency comprises three names including a surprise candidate, R Srikumar, a 1973 batch officer of the IPS who is presently serving as the DGP of Karnataka. The other two top contenders in the running are M L Sharma, who is presently special director CBI, and Ashwini Kumar, a 1976 batch police officer and currently DGP Himachal Pradesh.

Vijay Shankar, who has been heading the agency for more than two years, will reportedly be in the CBI office till July 31. A 1969 batch IPS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Shankar had joined the CBI in December 2005. He was previously in charge of several high-profile investigations, including the Bofors case and the Babri Masjid demolition. During his tenure in the CBI, he headed investigations in highly publicised cases such as the serial murders in Nithari, the Rs 500-crore kidney scam, the Ashok Malhotra land scam, extradition of Abu Salem and, most recently, the Aarushi-Hemraj double slayings in Noida.

Currently, the buzz is that M L Sharma is likely to be appointed as CBI director because not only is he the senior-most officer in the race, he has had experience of serving the CBI for 17 years now as SP, DIG and IG. If Sharma is promoted to the post, he will be in the office for some 10 months. A 1972 batch IPS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, he was instrumental in the extradition of Abu Salem and Monica Bedi from Portugal. He is also presently looking after the controversial kidney scam case. Sharma won the police medal in 1988 and the President’s police medal in 1995.

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