Senior IPS officer Subodh Kumar Jaiswal was on Tuesday night appointed as the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The appointment came a day after a high-powered committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi shortlisted three candidates -- CISF Director General Jaiswal, his SSB counterpart Ramesh Chandra and Special Secretary (Internal Security) VSK Kaumudi.
From this, the Appointments Committee of Cabinet chose Jaiswal for the top post in the CBI, the country's premier investigating agency.
Jaiswal (59), a 1985-batch Maharashtra cadre IPS officer, has been given appointment for two years from the date of assumption of charge of the office or until further orders whichever is earlier, according to the order by Department of Personnel and Training.
He will succeed Rishi Kumar Shukla who retired in February. Since then, Additional Director Praveen Sinha has been holding the additional charge of CBI Director.
Jaiswal, a 1985-batch officer from Maharashtra cadre, has been the Director General of Police in Maharashtra. He was also in the team that probed the infamouse fake stamp scam.
He had also a stint in the Anti-Terror Squad of the Maharashtra Police during which he was part of the investigation team that probed the 2006 Malegaon blast case.
He also served the Research and Analysis Wing for nine years and for three years, he was Additional Secretary, one of the top posts in the external intelligence agency.
On Monday, the high-powered committee of Modi, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had shortlisted three officers -- Jaiswal, his SSB counterpart Ramesh Chandra and Special Secretary (Internal Security) VSK Kaumudi. From this, Jaiswal was chosen by the government.
Serving Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the senior-most batches -- 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987 -- were considered for the post . The panel was initially given a list of 109 officers who are in the 1984-1987 batches and eligible for the post. Out of this, ten were further chosen and then pruned to six before the meeting.
The other officers who were considered included NIA chief Y C Modi and BSF Director General Rakesh Asthana, both considered close to Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah as well as Kerala DGP Loknath Behra and BCAS Director General MA Ganapathy among others.