Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Verma was named the next director of the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday. The 1979-batch Indian Police Service officer was selected for the post by a three-member panel, comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice JS Khehar and Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the second-largest party in the Lok Sabha. He will serve as the CBI chief for the next two years.

Verma has been the chief of the Delhi Police for the past 11 months. An Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory cadre, he has also been the director general of Tihar Jail and the head of the Mizoram Police in the past.

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His appointment comes following controversy over Rakesh Asthana being named the interim CBI director. The Gujarat cadre IPS officer had taken over the post after Anil Sinha’s term ended on December 2. NGO Common Cause had filed a petition, accusing the Centre of taking “mala fide, arbitrary and illegal” steps to give Asthana charge of the CBI, after which the Supreme Court had sought an explanation from the government.

Asthana, who was the additional director of the agency, was promoted after the transfer of CBI Special Director RK Dutta, who had been a top contender for the post, to the Home Ministry as special secretary, which is a new new addition to the ministry. The NGO had alleged that the Centre had “prematurely curtailed” Dutta’s term at the CBI and transferred him to the ministry two days before Sinha was scheduled to retire.

Besides Verma, Dutta is believed to have been in the running for the post of CBI director, along with Sashastra Seema Bal chief Archana Ramasundaram. Mallikarjun Kharge had said that he did not have the time to look into the credentials of all the officers being considered for the post because the Centre had not shared the details in advance, reported Hindustan Times.