After nine years, CBI gets cadre officer as joint director

An internal CBI order, issued on September 27, said deputy inspector general (DIG) NM Singh, who probed alleged fake encounter cases in Manipur, had been promoted to the rank of JD (equivalent to an inspector general) and will look after administrative matters.

After a hiatus of almost nine years, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has got a joint director (JD) who has risen from the ranks.

NM Singh joined the CBI as a directly recruited deputy superintendent of police (DySP) in the early 1990s.(Picture for representation)

An internal CBI order, issued on September 27 and seen by HT, said deputy inspector general (DIG) NM Singh, who probed alleged fake encounter cases in Manipur, had been promoted to the rank of JD (equivalent to an inspector general) and will look after administrative matters. He will continue to assist in the Supreme Court-monitored investigation of the Manipur encounter cases. HT had reported the move on May 5.

Singh joined the CBI as a directly recruited deputy superintendent of police (DySP) in the early 1990s. He is the first officer from the CBI cadre to be promoted as JD after M Narayanan, who held the same rank and retired in January 2009. Besides looking after administration, Singh will hold the charge of the STF zone that deals with cases of organised crime.

“Very few CBI cadre officers have reached the rank of JD in the CBI. NM Singh has been given charge of administration, which was always manned by an IPS officer,” said a CBI officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There have been many issues where CBI cadre officers feel that they are treated unfairly in comparison to their counterparts who come to the agency on deputation. All these matters are dealt with by the administration wing of the agency...”

The CBI has 18 sanctioned posts of the rank of JD and four among them are reserved for officials who rise from the ranks. After 2001, the CBI stopped recruiting deputy SPs. “It is a good development and I hope the government revives recruitment at the rank of DySP as they turn out to be better detectives.,” said Shantanu Sen, who joined the agency as a DySP and retired as a JD in 1996.