Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma was appointed as the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on January 19, 2017 by a three member committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar and Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge as members.
- Alok Kumar Verma will replace the interim director Rakesh Asthana who was appointed since the post was lying vacant after the former director Anil Sinha retired on December 2, 2016.
- Kharge is understood to have recorded his dissent note on Verma’s name on the grounds that the officer had never served in CBI, during the meeting of the selection committee held on January 16.
- The other contenders for the top post in the investigating agency included Director General of Indo Tibetan Border Police Krishna Choudhary and Maharashtra’s Director General of Police S C Mathur.
- Verma is the 27th Director of CBI and will serve for a period of two years.
About Alok Kumar Verma
Alok Kumar Verma was born on July 14, 1957. He is a 1979 batch IPS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union-Territories cadre.
- The 59-year-old Delhi based IPS took over as Delhi Police Commissioner on February 29, 2016.
- Before being appointed as Delhi Police commissioner, he was Director General of Tihar Prisons in Delhi.
- He has worked in various positions in Delhi Police, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Mizoram and in the Intelligence Bureau.
About Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
The Central Bureau of Investigation is the domestic intelligence and security service of India which serves as India’s prime federal law enforcement agency. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Government of India.
- The CBI was established in 1941 as the Special Police Establishment for domestic security. It was renamed the Central Bureau of Investigation on 1 April 1963.
- It is the official Interpol agency in India with the Motto of “Industry, Impartiality, Integrity”. The agency is headquartered in New Delhi.
The major role of CBI is to handle the following broad categories of criminal cases:
Cases of corruption and fraud committed by the public servants of all Central Government Departments, Central Public sector Undertakings and Central Financial Institutions.
- Economic crimes, including bank frauds, financial frauds, Import-Export & Foreign Exchange violations, large scale smuggling of narcotics, antiques, cultural property and smuggling of other contraband items, etc.
- Special crimes, such as cases of terrorism, bomb blasts, sensational homicides, kidnapping for ransom and crimes committed by the mafia/the