MP Ex-DGP to Be New CBI Director, Will See How He Probes Vyapam Scam, Says Congress

Bhopal: The appointment of former Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) RK Shukla as the new director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has evoked a political slugfest in the state.

The Congress has questioned RK Shukla’s eligibility and has asked how a failed DGP can become a good CBI chief.

The BJP, on the other hand, has defended Shukla, saying that his tenure as DGP was exemplary, and he will meet the demands of the post.

A day after his appointment, Minister for Cooperatives, Madhya Pradesh government, Dr Govind Singh made an all-out attack on Shukla’s appointment. While talking to media on Sunday, he alleged, “Shukla is incompetent, coward and unsuccessful officer, and that his appointment is made to scuttle the ongoing inquiry in the Vyapam scam.”

Singh further alleged, “When I was in opposition, I had raised the issue in the assembly, and had said that Shukla is good for nothing. During his tenure, the crime graph was skyrocketing in the state. He failed to act during the Dalit stir (Bharat Bandh on April 2, 2018), Mandsaur police firing (June 6, 2017). To curb crime against women, control sand mafia and so on. The officer had failed to control law and order in the state”.

He questioned, “How can a person handle a national-level post when he could not even control the law and order situation of a single state. I protest and criticise the decision of the Modi government of appointing the failed DGP as the CBI chief."

Shukla’s appointment has drawn criticism from many including Leader of Opposition and Congress’ MP Mallikarjun Kharge — who was part of a three-member panel to choose the new CBI Director. A day ago, Kharge sent a two-page note of dissent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Shukla’s appointment, pointing out that the 1983-batch IPS officer does not have experience of handling anti-corruption cases. He alleged that the criterion for selection was “diluted, in violation of the law and Supreme Court judgments”.

On January 30, Chief Minister Kamal Nath had removed RK Shukla from the post of DGP, citing failure in maintaining law and order, and had made him MD of Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Board.

Read more: Vyapam Scam: The Curious Case of Fake Doctors, Incompetent Investigations

Defending Shukla, BJP national vice-president Prabhat Jha said that the Congress is running scared. “Congress’s apprehensions over the appointment of Rishi Kumar Shukla as CBI director have substantial reasons. The Congress has many things to hide from the investigating agencies, and a tendency to politicise issues related to constitutional bodies to denigrate them later.”

Later in the day, former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh jumped into the fray. He tweeted, “I congratulate Shukla, DGP, the first MP-cadre officer to be appointed as director of CBI. He should have been made director of IB, when the present incumbent was given six months’ extension, because of his wide experience in IB,” He tweeted on Sunday, adding that Congress will “keenly observe Shukla’s moves in the Vyapam scam probe”.

In another tweet Singh said, “He has been given (charge of) CBI, in which he doesn’t have the experience that he has of IB. Nevertheless, now we shall see how the Vyapam case progresses because he is personally fully aware of the facts of the actual culprits of Vyapam case.”

Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who had handpicked Shukla for his “commitment and integrity”, said, “His tenure as MP police chief was exemplary. Again, he has been given responsibility of an important position like the director of the CBI. I am hopeful he will meet the expectations of the country,” he said.

Chouhan further said, “It’s a matter of pride that officers of MP cadre are holding the position of top institutions — RAW and CBI. This is a validation of the capability and earnestness of officers from MP.”

He also tweeted that during his tenure as DGP, Shukla had performed his duty during “the Vyapam scam, gunning down of SIMI suspects, or the rape of minors in Mandsaur and Indore”.

Also watch: Farzi: Decoding Vyapam Scam