CBI additional director YC Modi to be new NIA chief
NEW DELHI : Senior IPS officer YC Modi will take over as the director general of National Investigation Agency (NIA) after Sharad Kumar retires on October 31. Kumar, who was chosen during the UPA regime in 2013, had received a two-year extension from the NDA government.
According to a home ministry order, Modi will hold the post until his superannuation on May 31, 2021 or until further orders.
Modi, a 1984-batch officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is currently additional director in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Kumar has had to face criticism after the NIA gave clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
Another key accused in the Hindu terror cases, Swami Aseemanand got bail in the Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express blast cases, but the NIA didn't challenge the order in higher court.
In Ajmer blast case, the NIA could prove charges against only three accused and six other including Swami Aseemanand were acquitted but the NIA is yet to challenge the order in higher court.
But the NIA received considerable success in other terror cases. The agency managed to nail Pakistan's role in the Pathankot air base attack case and it's cautious investigation to into groups of Islamic State sympathisers helped the government to curtail the influence of the IS.
MHA has also cleared the appointment of Rajni Kanth Mishra, additionlal director general, BSF, as the next chief of the Sashastra Seema Bal. Current DG Archana Ramasundaram retires on September 30.