PM Modi-headed selection committee to meet on Friday to decide on new CBI chief

New Delhi: The decision on the new Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director is expected to be taken on Friday by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-headed selection committee. The country's premier investigative agency CBI has lately been working without its regular chief.

The selection committee would be meeting for a second time today as its January 24 sitting had remained inconclusive.

The committee members include Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

In the last meeting of the panel, a list of eligible officers along with their dossiers was shared with the panel members. Following this, Kharge had said, "The government presented names of 70-80 officers. There was no mention of their career details including relevant experience. We (referring to CJI Gogoi) have asked them to provide all the necessary details. The next meeting will be convened may be by next week," 

The post of the CBI chief has been lying vacant since January 10 after the unceremonious exit of Alok Verma, who was engaged in a bitter fight with Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana over corruption charges. Both Verma and Asthana have accused each other of impropriety.

Verma, after being removed from the post of CBI director by the PM-led panel, was named as the Director General of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards - a less significant portfolio.

Verma did not accept the offer and wrote to the government, saying he should be considered as deemed superannuated as he has completed 60 year age of superannuation.

He had taken over as the CBI chief on February 1, 2017, for a fixed two-year tenure.

Meanwhile, M Nageshwara Rao has been working as the interim CBI chief after Verma's ouster. 

Rao, a 1986-batch Odisha cadre IPS officer, was given the duties and functions of CBI director late night on October 23, 2018, after Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana were divested of all powers by the government following the spat between them.

(With inputs from agencies)