CISF chief Subodh Kumar Jaiswal was appointed as the new CBI director for two years.

Jaiswal is a 1985-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Maharashtra cadre. He has also served as Maharashtra's Director General of Police in the past.

The CBI was working without a regular chief for over three months after Rishi Kumar Shukla completed his two-year tenure on February 3.

CBI additional director Praveen Sinha, a 1988-batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, was appointed the acting chief of the agency after Shukla completed his tenure.

According to a personnel ministry order, Jaiswal has been appointed as the director of CBI for a period of two years.

A three-member selection committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had shortlisted Jaiswal’s name. Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury are the two members of the panel.

According to a report, Justice N.V. Ramana cited a Supreme Court guideline in the committee to avoid officers with less than six months left to retire for appointment as CBI director.

The six-month minimum residual tenure rule was introduced by the Supreme Court in a March 13, 2019 order. Though the guidelines in the Prakash Singh case pertained to the appointment of DGPs, it was extended to the CBI director too.

Central Bureau of Investigation

• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier anti-corruption investigative agency in India. It has the experience of handling high profile conventional crimes, economic offences, banking frauds and crimes with international links. 

Evolution of CBI

• The CBI traces its origin to the Special Police Establishment (SPE) which was set up in 1941 by the government of India. The functions of the SPE then were to investigate cases of bribery and corruption in transactions with the War & Supply Department of India during World War II. 

• Superintendence of the SPE was vested with the War Department. Even after the end of the War, the need for a central government agency to investigate cases of bribery and corruption by central government employees was felt.

• The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act was therefore brought into force in 1946. This Act transferred the superintendence of the SPE to the Home Department and its functions were enlarged to cover all departments of the government of India. 

• The jurisdiction of the SPE extended to all the Union Territories and could be extended also to the states with the consent of the state government concerned.

• The DSPE acquired its popular current name, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), through a home ministry resolution in 1963. 

• The founder director of the CBI was D.P. Kohli held office from April 1, 1963 to May 31, 1968.

• Initially the offences notified by the central government were related to corruption by central government servants.

• It was set up to not only investigate cases of bribery and corruption but also a violation of central fiscal laws, major frauds relating to government of India departments, public joint stock companies, passport frauds and serious crimes committed by organised gangs and professional criminals.

• CBI was further strengthened by the addition of the Economic Offences Wing in 1964.

• The scope of Economic Offences Division was expanded from time to time to cover various economic offences mainly pertaining to serious frauds in banks, stock exchanges, financial institutions, joint stock companies, public limited companies, misappropriation of public funds, misallocation of national natural resources like coal, criminal breach of trust, cheating of small investors through Ponzi Scheme and chit fund scams, cybercrime, IMPEX Laws, counterfeiting of currency, narcotics, drug trafficking, offences related to antiques, arts & treasures, piracy, forgery of travel documents/identity papers, fraud in overseas job rackets, wildlife crimes, etc.

• Over time, requests were made by various quarters for the CBI to take up investigation in crimes like homicide, kidnapping, large scale banks and insurance frauds, complicated matters, etc. 

• Courts also reposed faith in CBI and started referring cases to it for enquiry/investigation based on petitions filed by the aggrieved persons in serious matters. This led to the multi-dimensional growth of the agency.

• The CBI has jurisdiction to investigate offences pertaining to 69 Central laws, 18 State Acts and 231 offences in the IPC.

• A comprehensive internal work distribution was done in 1994 and divisions were tasks as under:

a) Anti-Corruption Division: To deal with cases of corruption and fraud committed by public servants of all central government departments, Central Public Sector Undertakings and central financial institutions.

b) Economic Crimes Division: To deal with bank frauds, financial frauds, Import-Export & Foreign Exchange violations, large-scale smuggling of narcotics, antiques, cultural property and smuggling of other contraband items, etc. 

c) Special Crimes Division: To deal with cases of terrorism, bomb blasts and  sensational homicides.

• In order to secure cooperation between the Special Police Establishment and the ministries/departments of the central government, separate directives had been issued by the ministry of home affairs, railway board and the Army, Naval and Air Headquarters and Defence Production Organisation. Subsequently, these separate directives were replaced by one single directive of memorandum by the ministry of home affairs.

Appointment of CBI director

With Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 has been amended providing for selection of director, CBI on the recommendation of a Committee consisting of:

• Prime minister — chairperson

• The Leader of Opposition

• The Chief Justice of India or a judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him.

The director of CBI has been provided security of two-year tenure in office by the CVC Act, 2003.

Interpol Wing of CBI

• CBI has been representative of the country, since 1966, with International Criminal Police Organisation (ICPO), popularly known as Interpol. 

• Director, CBI is the ex-officio head of National Central Bureau of India (NCB-India).

• NCB-India, also known as Interpol Wing of CBI, provides police-to-police communication and intelligence network for both State Police Agencies and Foreign Police Agencies. 

• It also provides an interface to these agencies to seek assistance in a criminal investigation that extends beyond their national boundaries.

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