CBI Director Praveen Sood gets one-year extension amid lack of consensus on successor
New Delhi: In the absence of a consensus on appointing a new chief, the Central government on Wednesday extended the tenure of CBI Director Praveen Sood by one year.
Sood, a 1986-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Karnataka cadre, was originally scheduled to complete his two-year fixed term on May 24 this year. However, a decision on his successor could not be finalised following deliberations by the high-powered selection committee.
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, based on the recommendations of the Committee, has approved the extension in tenure of Shri Praveen Sood, IPS (KN:1986) as Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a period of one year beyond 24.05.2025,” a government statement said.
The selection of the CBI Director is governed by a three-member committee chaired by the Prime Minister and includes the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna to finalise the next appointee. However, the meeting reportedly ended without any consensus emerging.
Born in 1964, Praveen Sood is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. He joined the Indian Police Service in 1986 and began his career as an Assistant Superintendent of Police in Mysore in 1989.
He later served as Superintendent of Police in Bellary and Raichur, and as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) in Bengaluru city.
In 1999, Sood was deputed as Police Advisor to the Government of Mauritius, a role he held for three years. During this foreign assignment, he gained valuable exposure to policing systems in Europe and North America.
On returning to India, he took a sabbatical in 2003 to pursue postgraduate studies in Public Policy and Management at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, New York.
Sood has held several key positions in Karnataka and at the national level, and his tenure as CBI Director has been marked by several high-profile investigations and institutional reforms.