The government has prolonged the tenure of Central Bureau of Research (CBI) director praveen Sood by means of a year, an order from the Appointments Committee of cabinet (ACC) stated on Wednesday.


The selection for the extension was taken at the assembly on monday after a high-powered committee, comprising prime minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of india Sanjiv Khanna, and Chief of the Competition in the lok sabha rahul Gandhi, did not attain a consensus.


"The appointments committee of the cabinet, based totally on the guidelines of the committee, has permitted the extension in tenure of praveen Sood as director cbi for a length of 12 months beyond april 24, 2025," the order issued on wednesday stated.


The extension is a departure from the norm because the significant Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act mandates a fixed tenure of - years for directors of the cbi and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).


In november 2021, the government added in an ordinance to amend the relevant Vigilance Fee (CVC) Act as well as the delhi Special police Status Quo (DSPE) Act to empower it to give three 12-month extensions to ED chiefs and the cbi administrators if it so chooses. The ordinance was ultimately passed through parliament a month later.


Formerly, the ordinance was used to offer three returned-to-back extensions to former ED director Sanjay Kumar Mishra.


Sood, a 1986-batch indian police Carrier (IPS) officer of the karnataka cadre, was appointed as the 34th director of the cbi on May 25, 2023. Before his cbi stint, Sood became the director general of police (DGP) in Karnataka.


In the course of his tenure, cbi has efficaciously investigated and finalized numerous sensitive instances together with the NEET-UG paper leak, the RG Kar clinic rape and murder, coins-for-jobs irregularities concerning former railways minister Lalu prasad Yadav and his family, and delhi excise coverage 2021-22 related irregularities wherein former chief minister arvind kejriwal and deputy cm Manish Sisodia were arrested.


Underneath Sood, the organization also filed a wide variety of closure reports, officers stated.


For example, in 2024, cbi filed closure records in at least 174 cases for loss of proof. Prior to 2024, CBI's closure reviews ranged between 30 and 60 instances each year, including 62 in 2023 and 32 in 2022.


A few distinguished instances closed remaining year include a 2017 probe towards nationalist congress party (NCP) chief praful patel (now with NCP-SP) for alleged irregularities inside the leasing of aircraft through National Aviation Corporation of india Ltd. (NACIL); a 2017 probe against former Union environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan over diversion of woodland land for a metallic plant in Jharkhand; a 2017 case against NDTV founders Prannoy and radhika Roy for allegedly causing a loss of ₹forty-eight crore to ICICI financial institution; and a 2022 case of making a bet in indian Most Efficient League's 2019 season.


"The director (Sood) directed all units of the agency final 12 months to scavenge the instances that wished to wind up and finalize them at the earliest—by using either filing price sheet(s) or closure document(s). This resulted in the organization casting off a file of 1,467 cases (1,293 fee sheets and 174 closure reviews) in 2024," stated an officer, who requested no longer to be named.


Regarded for his hands-on approach, Sood had supervised research of high-profile instances concerning excessive net-worth people and topics having interstate and worldwide ramifications.


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Sudha Subbiah

08/05/2025 11:57 AM