Centre extends tenure of CBI director by 1 year

The government has extended the tenure of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Praveen Sood by a year, an order from the appointments committee of cabinet (ACC) said on Wednesday.

The decision for the extension was taken at the meeting on Monday after a high-powered committee, comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi failed to reach a consensus.

“The appointments committee of the cabinet, based on the recommendations of the committee, has approved the extension in tenure of Praveen Sood, as director CBI for a period of one year beyond April 24, 2025,” the order issued on Wednesday said.

The extension is a departure from norm, as the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act mandates a fixed tenure of two-years for directors of CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

In November 2021, the government brought in an ordinance to amend the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act as well as the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act to empower it to give three one-year extensions to ED chiefs and the CBI directors if it so desires. The ordinance was subsequently passed by Parliament a month later.

Previously, the ordinance was used to give three back-to-back extensions to former ED director Sanjay Kumar Mishra.

Sood, a 1986-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Karnataka cadre, was appointed as 34th director of CBI on May 25, 2023. Before his CBI stint, Sood was the director general of police (DGP) in Karnataka.

During his tenure, CBI has successfully investigated and finalized several sensitive cases including NEET-UG paper leak, RG Kar hospital rape and murder, cash-for-jobs irregularities involving former railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family, Delhi excise policy 2021-22 related irregularities in which former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy CM Manish Sisodia were arrested.

Under Sood, the agency also filed a record number of closure reports, officials said.

For instance, in 2024, CBI filed closure report in at least 174 cases for lack of evidence. Prior to 2024, CBI’s closure reports ranged between 30 and 60 cases every year, including 62 in 2023 and 32 in 2022.

Some prominent cases closed last year include a 2017 probe against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel (now with NCP-SP) for alleged irregularities in the leasing of aircraft by National Aviation Corporation of India Ltd (NACIL); a 2017 probe against former Union environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan over diversion of forest land for a steel plant in Jharkhand; a 2017 case against NDTV founders Prannoy and Radhika Roy for allegedly causing a loss of ₹48 crore to ICICI Bank; and a 2022 case of betting in Indian Premier League’s 2019 season.

“The director (Sood) directed all units of the agency last year to scavenge the cases that needed winding up and finalise them at the earliest — by either filing charge sheet(s) or closure report(s). This resulted in the agency disposing of a record 1,467 cases (1,293 charge sheets and 174 closure reports) in 2024,” said an officer, who asked not to be named.

Known for his hands-on approach, Sood had supervised investigation of high-profile cases involving high net-worth individuals and matters having inter-state and international ramifications.