Meet the new CBI chief - Alok Verma

New Delhi: The government on Thursday appointed Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma as the next Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Verma was appointed to the post almost one-and-a-half months after the superannuation of the previous incumbent Anil Sinha on December 2.

A three-member Appointment Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi selected Verma for the coveted post.

A list of about 45 eligible IPS officers was sent to the Prime Minister`s Office for consideration as the next CBI director. Verma pipped senior IPS officers Krishna Choudhary, Aruna Bahuguna among others, to grab the top post.

Here are seven important facts about him:

1. Alok Verma is a 1979 batch officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre.
2. His appointment will be for a period of two years from the date of assumption of the charge of his office. Although he is due to retire in July, the government could give him an extension.
3. Verma's appointment as the CBI director is his 24th posting in his 36-year career as a police officer.
4. Verma started his career as an Assistant Commissioner of Police (under training) in Delhi Police in December 24, 1979.
5. One of the senior-most officers in the country, Verma was earlier the Director General of Tihar prisons from August 2014 to February 2016 and the police chief of Mizoram between July 2012 and September 2013.
6. He has served as the Special Commissioner of Police in Intelligence, Vigilance and Administration departments of Delhi Police.
7. Verma has also served as the Director General of Police in Puducherry between December 2008 and January 2011 and as the Joint and Special Commissioner of the Delhi Police Crime Branch between August 2007 and December 2008.

(With IANS inputs)