Senior IPS officer and former director-general of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Ranjit Sinha, took over as director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday. Sinha has succeeded Amar Pratap Singh who retired on November 30. Sinha is the 25th director of CBI.
A 1974-batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre, Sinha has served in the CBI earlier, too, as deputy inspector general and joint director. He has taken over at a time when investigations are being carried out by the CBI in the 2G spectrum and coal block allocation cases.
“I feel very honoured and, at the same time, I am also humbled at the important task bestowed over me,” Sinha said in his opening remarks while addressing his first press meeting as CBI director.
Dismissing allegations of the Opposition parties that his appointment was controversial, the CBI chief said, “The government has taken a decision and that is why I am here.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arguing that the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha on Lok Pal and Lok Ayukta Bill 2011 recommended that the CBI director should be appointed by a collegium comprising the Prime Minister, leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
According to BJP leaders, the government should have waited for the recommendations to be implemented after the Bill is passed in the winter session of Parliament.
On petitions filed against his appointment, Sinha said, “I don't think there was any resentment among IPS officers. I do not know who filed a petition or complaint against me. It (appointment) is the prerogative of the government.”
Sinha, who has had a stint with the CBI earlier, said he was well aware of the functioning of the investigative agency as well as its challenges like shortage of manpower. He added that he would take up the issue of the delay in letter rogatories from different parts of the world, which hamper the investigation process.