New Delhi. Karnataka Director General of Police Praveen Sood has emerged as the top contender for the post of Director of Central Bureau of Investigation. The Selection Committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Leader of Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, met on Saturday and is learnt to have deliberated on three names for the post, the other two being Sudhir Kumar Saxena, DGP, Madhya Pradesh; and Taj Hassan, Director General, Fire Service, Civil Defence and Home Guards.

The shortlisted names, out of the original list of over 100 officers have been sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. It is reported in media that Sood has the backing of Prime Minister and CJI, and that should be enough, as per convention. Sood is also the senior most from among the three final shortlisted candidates.

A 1986-batch IPS officer Sood was appointed Karnataka DGP in January 2020, while Saxena of the 1987-batch in Indian Police Service took over as Madhya Pradesh DGP in March 2022. Hassan, a 1987-batch IPS officer of AGMUT cadre took over as DG, Fire Service, Civil Defence and Home Guards in July 2021.

The two-year fixed tenure of the present incumbent Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, a 1985-batch IPS officer from Maharashtra cadre is coming to an end on May 25 this year.

An IITian, Sood has had an illustrious career during which he is credited with numerous innovations. As Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru city, Sood is brain behind launch of “Namma 100” an “Emergency Response System” for the citizens in distress. With 100 lines managed by multilingual “Communication Officers” 24 X 7, and support of 276 Emergency Response Vehicles (Hoyasala), spread all over Bengaluru City; Sood promised every call to be picked up in 15 seconds and every scene of distress to be visited by “Hoyasala” within 15 minutes.  “Namma-100” or “My-100” was receiving, on an average, 6000 calls a day with average intervention time of 5 second and average response time of 17 minutes within 3 months of its launch.

During 2013-14 he took over as Managing Director of Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation and increased the turnover of the company from Rs 160 cr to Rs 282 cr in a short span of nine months.

Subsequently he worked as Principal Secretory, Home  Department, Additional Director General of Police, Karnataka State Reserve Police and Additional Director General of Police, Administration.