Amid Mamata Banerjee's dharna, Rishi Kumar Shukla takes charge as new CBI chief
New Delhi, Feb 4 (IBNS): Newly-appointed CBI chief Rishi Kumar Shukla on Monday took charge of his office at a time when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is sitting on a dharna in Kolkata to oppose the national probe agency's move against city police chief Rajeev Kumar on Sunday.
In his career, Shukla had earlier served as the Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police.
Shukla is a 1983-batch officer.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of the new CBI chief, reports said.
He will be in charge of the office for two years.
The post has been empty since Jan 10 when Alok Verma was removed from it by the selection panel.
Alok Verma Episode:
On Jan 11, Alok Verma resigned three weeks before retirement, refusing to take charge as chief of fire services after being removed from the post of CBI director.
Verma's resignation came after a high-powered panel transferred him to the Fire Services as Director General, after deciding that as CBI chief, he had "not acted with the integrity expected of him". His transfer came only two days after the Supreme Court reinstated him as CBI chief.
In October, he had been sent on forced leave by the government in a midnight move in which officers of his team were transferred and an interim director took over. Verma had challenged the decision in the Supreme Court.
Mamata Banerjee's Dharna:
Mamata Banerjee is currently sitting on a dharna in Kolkata and Shukla took charge amid a conflict between the West Bengal CM and his robe agency.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear tomorrow the CBI plea against the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal on non-cooperation with the federal agency to probe into the state's chit fun scams, which require the quizzing of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, media reports said.
While Mamata Banerjee began an indefinite dharna against the CBI move, the Supreme Court has asked the probe agency to produce evidence proving Kumar's alleged attempt to tamper evidences in the chit fund scams after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, said that the Kolkata Police Commissioner was destroying evidence.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday took their battle against the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal to the Election Commission highlighting how the Mamata Banerjee government in the eastern state is using its machinery to threaten the BJP workers and not allowing any electioneering by refusing permission to landing of helicopters of their leaders.
Briefing media, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said "every worker of BJP is constantly being threatened." She said the Mamata government is using the civic volunteers in West Bengal to act like police and threaten.
"TMC is rattled by the growth of the BJP," she said.
Image: cid.mppolice.gov.in
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