THE HIGH-POWERED selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed Karnataka DGP Praveen Sood as Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a period of two years. He will take charge from Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, who completes his tenure on May 25.
Sood’s appointment was announced in an order issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on Sunday, a day after the Congress emerged the winner in the Karnataka Assembly elections.
A 1986-batch IPS officer of the state cadre, Sood was appointed Karnataka DGP in January 2020, superseding Ashit Mohan Prasad, who was from the previous batch.
Incidentally, in March this year, in the run-up to the Assembly elections, Sood came under fire from the state Congress, which accused the DGP of bias towards the BJP. Targeting Sood, Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar had accused the police of filing cases against his party workers while turning a blind eye towards the BJP. He said that if the Congress formed the next government, it would take action against Sood.
“This DGP (Sood) is a ‘nalayak’. Let our government come. We will take action against him. The Congress has also written to the ECI to remove him. I thought he was a respected man. Immediately, a case should be registered against him and he should be arrested,” Shivakumar had said.
The trigger behind Shivakumar outburst was alleged police inaction against those who put up posters of Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda, who some in the BJP say killed Tipu Sultan – a claim contested by historians. The posters came up in Mandya ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit.
The Congress claimed that while 25 cases were registered against its workers in connection with several issues, including the “Pay CM” campaign against Basavaraj Bommai, no case was registered against BJP workers.
On Saturday, the selection committee headed by the Prime Minister shortlisted three names for the CBI Director’s post, but the exercise was not smooth as the Opposition member on the panel — Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury — conveyed his objection over the procedure and demanded that the process be carried out afresh.
According to sources, the Department of Personnel and Training had earlier sent a list of nearly 115 names for the post. Chowdhury is learnt to have pointed this out, and argued that he had not received the service records, personal details and integrity documents of the officers on the list.
Finally, the three shortlisted names were sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. Apart from Sood, the other names were Madhya Pradesh DGP Sudhir Kumar Saxena and Taj Hassan, DG (Fire Service, Civil Defence and Home Guards).
Hailing from Himachal Pradesh, the 58-year-old Sood is an alumni of IIT-Delhi and holds a BTech degree in civil engineering.
After joining the police, he started his career as assistant Superintendent of Police of Mysuru in 1989. He later served as the SP of Bellary and Raichur before getting transferred to Bengaluru city as DCP (law and order).
In 1999, he went on foreign deputation as police advisor to the Government of Mauritius for three years where he worked closely with European and American police.
In 2003, he took a sabbatical to pursue PG in Public Policy and Management from IIM-Bangalore and Maxwell School of Governance, Syracuse University, New York.
In 2004, he was posted as Commissioner of Police of Mysuru where he focused on transforming the chaotic traffic situation through various campaigns, mechanical and engineering improvements, and better enforcement. During his stint in Mysuru, he also played a key role in the arrest of Pakistan-origin terrorists.
In 2017, he was posted as Commissioner of Police in Bengaluru. He launched ‘Namma 100’ – an emergency response system for citizens in distress. He was also instrumental in launching the ‘Suraksha’ App and ‘Pink Hoyasala’ managed by women cops, especially for women and children in distress.
Although his term as Bengaluru Commissioner was for one year, he was transferred in seven months by the government led by the then chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Sood was decorated with Chief Minister’s Gold Medal for excellence in service in 1996, Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2002 and President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2011.
Sood currently lives in Bengaluru with his wife Vineeta Sood. He has two daughters – Aashita and Anoushka . His elder daughter Aashita is married to cricketer Mayank Agarwal.
