A.P. Singh takes over as CBI chief, promises transparency

NEW DELHI - A.P. Singh, special director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), was Tuesday appointed the new chief of the agency and promised fair and professional probes.

A.P. Singh, 58, a 1974-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Jharkhand cadre, succeeds Ashwani Kumar, who retired Tuesday after two years and four months in the post. He will have a two-year tenure as head of the agency, in the spotlight for its investigations into several high-profile corruption scandals.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Tuesday approved the name of A.P. Singh as the new CBI head, an official said.

Addressing the media after taking over as the CBI chief, he said the agency would work in a transparent manner.

“If there is evidence against any person we will take strict against them. It doesn’t matter if he is a high profile person. We will act in fair and professional investigations in high profile cases,” he said.

He denied comment on investigations related to the Commonwealth Games and other cases, saying he needed to review them all.

“We have a lot of administrative problems like improving forensics, filling up vacancies, pending court cases and speeding up investigation cases,” he added.

A.P. Singh has previously served as additional director general of the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF). He is a recipient of the Indian Police Medal and the President’s Police Medal.

He will be heading the premier investigating agency when it is investigating several politically significant scams.

These include the 2G spectrum allotment scandal that forced A. Raja to step down as communications minister, the alleged wrongdoing by Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi in the organisation of the Commonwealth Games and Mumbai’s Adarsh housing society scam, which involves several senior former army officers and resulted in the resignation of Ashok Chavan as the Maharashtra chief minister.