Rishi Kumar Shukla appointed as the new CBI Director

NEW DELHI: The PM Modi-led selection panel on Saturday appointed IPS officer Rishi Kumar Shukla as the new CBI Director for a period of two years.

A 1983 batch IPS officer, Rishi Kumar Shukla was earlier working as the OSD in the Bhopal, Police Headquarters (PHQ).

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

Both Verma and Asthana had accused each other of corruption.

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 years age of superannuation on July 31, 2017.

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

M Nageswara Rao has been working as the interim CBI chief since Verma's ouster.