On May 14, the DGP of Karnataka, Praveen Sood was appointed as the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as per an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Earlier he was working as the DGP of Karnataka and was targeted by Congress leader DK Shivakumar alleging his affiliation with the BJP which was in power in the state at that time.
The Congress leader had also vowed to take action against him if the party would come back to power in the state, however, the high-powered selection committee headed by PM Modi appointed Karnataka DGP Praveen Sood as Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a period of two years. This is after the Congress recorded a victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections.
In January 2020, Sood, a member of the state cadre and an IPS officer from the 1986 batch, succeeded Ashit Mohan Prasad as the Karnataka DGP.
Congress alleged Police bias towards BJP
Reportedly, the state Congress criticized Sood in March of this year in the lead-up to the Assembly elections, charging the DGP with alleged bias for the BJP. DK Shivakumar, the head of the Karnataka Congress, accused the police of pursuing cases against his party members but remaining silent about the BJP. He tried to divert the investigation into the cases filed against Congress by blaming the Police to have allegedly nurtured a soft corner for the BJP. He declared that the Congress would initiate action against Sood if it formed the next administration.
“This DGP is a ‘Nalayak’. Let our government come. We will take action against him. Congress had also written to ECI to remove him. I thought he (Praveen Sood) was a respected man. Immediately, a case should be registered against him and he should be arrested,” Shivakumar had said.
“He has finished three years in service. How many days do you want to keep and worship him? He has been filing cases only against Congress. He has registered more than 25 cases against us and not a single case against BJP leaders. Let our government come. We will take action against him,” he had added back then.
The Congress leader vowed to take action against the then DGP after the police allegedly failed to take action against the individuals who put up posters of Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda in Mandya ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit. Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda fought had fought Tipu Sultan to safeguard the family of Mysuru Maharajas and to protect the state.
DK Shivakumar said in March that more than 25 cases were filed against its workers in connection with several issues, including the ‘Pay CM’ campaign against Basavaraj Bommai but no case was registered against BJP workers.
3 were shortlisted from over 115
The Prime Minister’s selection committee narrowed the pool of applicants down to three candidates on Saturday, but the process was complicated because the opposition representative on the panel, Congressman Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, voiced his displeasure with the method and demanded that it be restarted.
The Department of Personnel and Training reportedly provided a list of over 115 individuals for the position previously. It is said that Chowdhury brought this up and stated that the service records, personal information, and integrity documents of the officers on the list were not available to him.
The three shortlisted candidates were then forwarded to the Cabinet’s Appointments Committee. The other shortlisted alternatives were Sudhir Kumar Saxena, DGP of Madhya Pradesh, and Taj Hassan, DG of the Fire Service, Civil Defence, and Home Guards.
It is to be kept in mind that Praveen Sood’s nomination was approved by a high-level committee that included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and Leader of the Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress leader).
About Praveen Sood
Praveen Sood, a 1986-batch IPS officer from the Karnataka cadre, has served as the State DGP for the past three years. Originally, Sood hails from Himachal Pradesh and is an alumnus of IIT-Delhi. He was appointed the Karnataka DGP in 2020. His other stints include Superintendent of Police, Bellary, and Raichur before getting posted to Bangalore city as Deputy Commissioner of Police, Law and Order.
Sood also worked as principal secretary of the Home Department, ADGP Karnataka State Reserve Police, and ADGP Administration. He was slated to retire in May 2024. However, with his appointment as the new Director of the CBI, he will now work for a tenure of two years, ensuring his presence in office until at least May 2025. It must be mentioned that an existing Director of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) can serve for a maximum period of 5 years and a minimum tenure of 2 years.
In 1996, Sood also received the Chief Minister’s Gold Medal for outstanding service. In 2002, he received the Police Medal for Meritorious Service, and in 2011, he received the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service.
Karnataka HC recently dismissed Shivakumar’s plea challenging state’s demand for CBI probe in his case
Last year in October, DK Shivakumar had received a summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering investigation. He was previously questioned by the ED in Delhi on September 19 for more than 5 hours. Then, DK Shivakumar said that he was also questioned over the National Herald issue and family donations to the Rahul and Sonia Gandhi-run Young Indian Private Limited trust.
In another money-laundering case, the ED had detained Shivakumar on September 3, 2019, and the Delhi High Court had granted him bail in October of that same year. After learning about a charge sheet filed against him by the Income Tax department, the agency lodged a charge sheet against him and others in this matter in May of this year.
Recently, a fresh case was lodged based on an FIR filed against him on corruption charges. On April 20, the Karnataka High Court dismissed the Congress leader’s plea challenging the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government’s decision seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the disproportionate assets case against him. He had filed an application saying that the Karnataka government’s order for the CBI probe was wrong.
In 2019, the BS Yeddyurappa government sanctioned an investigation against DK Shivakumar. At that time, the CBI registered an FIR with the permission of the state government. Earlier, the CBI had assessed the property after the Karnataka Congress chief had made a statement that he is a farmer and getting income from agriculture.
Notably, the affidavit filed by Shivakumar while submitting his nomination papers for the May 10 Assembly polls revealed that the wealth of Congress’s Karnataka chief had increased by 68 per cent as compared to 2018. In the affidavit submitted by Shivakumar for the Assembly polls, Shivakumar pegged his total assets and those of his family members at a combined value of Rs 1414 crores.
In his affidavit for the 2013 Assembly polls, the assets held by the Congress leader’s family were valued at Rs 251 crores while, in the 2018 affidavit, the combined value of the property held by his kin was pegged at Rs 840 crores. Shivakumar also declared his annual income at Rs 14.24 crores whereas his wife’s annual income is Rs 1.9 crores.
The situation seems to have become unfavourable for DK Shivakumar after Praveen Sood took up the position of new CBI Director as the former had threatened and alleged the then DGP of favouring the BJP. The High Court has dismissed DK Shivakumar’s plea challenging the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government’s decision seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the disproportionate assets case against him.