Praveen Sood, has been appointed as the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Sood, Karnataka’s Director General of Police, will take over from outgoing CBI Director Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, whose fixed tenure ends on May 25, and will hold the post for a period of two years.
The appointment was finalized by a high-level committee consisting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Sood’s appointment comes a day after the BJP faced a massive defeat in the Karnataka assembly elections.
A 1986-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Sood is originally from Himachal Pradesh and is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi, Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Bangalore, and Syracuse University in New York. Sood’s first posting after joining IPS was in Mysore in 1989. He later returned to Mysore as Commissioner of Police between 2004 and 2007.
Praveen Sood , India’s New CBI what do we know of him?
During his tenure, Sood and his team arrested Fahad alias Mohammed Koya from Karachi and Mohammed Ali Hussain alias Jahangir from the Al Badr group, amid an exchange of fire on the night of October 26, 2006. The terrorists were later convicted for waging war against the nation under the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Praveen Sood has served in various administrative roles in Karnataka and is credited with establishing ‘Namma 100’, an ‘Emergency Response System’ that provides 24×7 support with the help of 276 Emergency Response Vehicles (Hoysala) across Bengaluru. He is also responsible for the establishment of the ‘Suraksha’ App and the ‘Pink Hoyasala’ run by female officers, which is designed specifically for women and children in distress.
Sood’s appointment has not been without controversy, as Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar accused him of “harbouring a bias towards the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).” Shivakumar called the DGP ‘Nalayak’ and said that the Congress would take strict action against him after coming to power. According to media reports, Congress’ Chowdhury had submitted a dissent note against the recommendation of Sood, saying that “he was not among the original panel of officers who were shortlisted for the top CBI job and his name was included at the last minute.”
Despite the controversy, Praveen Sood‘s appointment as the new Director of the CBI is expected to bring significant changes and reforms to the agency. With his experience and expertise in law enforcement, Sood is expected to lead the CBI towards greater efficiency and transparency.
