BHOPAL: Four days after being removed as DGP of Madhya Pradesh and posted as chairman of State Police Housing Corporation by the Kamal Nath government, the 1983-batch MP cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rishi Kumar Shukla was appointed as CBI Director for two years on Saturday.

The 58-year-old senior IPS officer will be the second officer of MP cadre to have been appointed to such a premier post in last two years. Earlier, in January 2017, another MP cadre officer, the 1981-batch Anil Kumar Dhasmana was appointed the chief of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the country’s foreign intelligence service.

“I’m heading for the new assignment with good wishes of all, including journalists fraternity. The good wishes of commoners are my greatest asset and achievement of life,” said Shukla while talking to scribes in Bhopal on Saturday evening.

Shukla, who joined the undivided police force of MP, as additional SP (ASP) Raipur in June 1985 has held several important positions in the MP police, spanning from head of Economic Offences Wing (EOW), and head of anti-terror squad (ATS) and special task force to the head of Special Armed Force (SAF), ADG (Intelligence), DG (Home Guards) and Chairman Police Housing Corporation, before being appointed as DGP of MP on July 1, 2016 by then Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

According to an ADG-rank IPS officer presently posted at the MP State Police HQ, “he (Shukla) was the best choice for CBI chief, particularly when the credibility of the premier investigation agency of the country has been under cloud due to spate of recent controversies. He’s the best and most upright IPS officer whose guiding slogan of life has been as a cop, always think of the last person of the society.”

Another ADG-rank officer of MP police, who has worked under him in various capacities said, it was under him only that MP police busted the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) terror modules in Jaora and Khandwa districts in the past. His close coordination with senior officers of union ministry of home affairs as well as senior cops of adjoining states, resulted in timely arrest of SIMI’s self-styled MP chief Abu Faisal alias Doctor in December 2013.

“His expertise in dealing with left wing extremism saw the raising of the committed anti-naxal Hawk Force of MP police, that went a long way in keeping under control naxal activities in the state,” said the ADG rank officer.

A senior IPS officer, who played an important role in gunning down of eight SIMI men (who escaped from Bhopal Central Jail in wee hours of October 30-31, 2016) in the encounter with police on Bhopal’s outskirts, recounted, “it was our then DGP Rishi Kumar Shukla who along with then ADG (Intelligence) Rajiv Tandon were the first to rush to the Bhopal Central Jail after the jail-break on October 31, 2017 early morning. It was his sustained guidance, which ultimately led to the gunning down of the jail-breakers a few hours later.”

Another senior IPS officer, described ex-IB Joint Director Rishi Kumar Shukla as an expert of intelligence, counter-intelligence and anti-naxal operations. “The golden period of MP police’s anti-terror operations was under his leadership only, particularly exemplified by the busting of the Chinese SIM BOX based alleged ISI spy ring, which was busted in February 2017 with arrest of over 15 persons, including a then ruling BJP leader and a Bajrang Dal leader,” said the officer who was part of the team which busted the spying ring.

It was after busting of the Chinese SIM BOX enabled parallel telephone exchanges, which were funding ISI operations in India that similar rings were busted in other states of the country also.

Also, it was active coordination between UP Police and MP police headed by Shukla that an alleged ISIS terror module was busted with arrests of ISIS operatives from Shajapur district of MP in the mid of UP Assembly polls in 2017.

Besides, Shukla contributed immensely for police modernization in MP and also in accelerating pace of building houses for the state police force during his tenure as chairman of state police housing corporation.