Crucial PM led meet today to select CBI chief: Here are the front-runners

New Delhi, May 24: A high powered committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting today to decide and select the next chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Chief Justice of India, N V Ramanna and Opposition Leader, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary will be part of the meeting which is expected to take place at 7 pm today. While Rakesh Asthana, Y C Modi and Subodh Jaiswal are the front-runners, officers from the 1984, 1985 and 1986 batches are also under consideration.

Asthana, currently the DG BSF is a 1984 batch officer, while Jaiswal, who is DG CISF is from the 1985 batch. Y C Modi, who is the NIA chief is a 1984 batch officer. The post is currently being held by Praveen Sinha as acting chief after the tenure of Rishi Kumar Shukla ended on February 3 2021.

The others who are in contention for the post are Loknath Behra, Kerala DGP and Keshav Kumar, Gujarat ACB. There are nearly 100 officers who are under consideration and this also includes 1985 batch officer H C Awasthi who is UP DG.

The law says that the Committee headed by the PM shall select the CBI director on the basis of seniority, integrity and experience in investigations into anti-corruption cases. The officers shall be selected from a list of IPS officers drawn from the four senior most batches. The officers who is selected as CBI chief will hold the post for not less than two years from the date of taking charge.