Patna, Dec. 3: Anil Kumar Sinha, a 1979-batch Bihar cadre IPS officer, today assumed charge as director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He is the second successive officer from the Bihar cadre to head the country’s premier investigating agency.

Sinha succeeds Ranjit Sinha, who belonged to the 1974 batch. Ranjit Sinha, whose two-year term as CBI director was mired in controversy, retired from service yesterday. Ranjit Sinha had succeeded A.P. Singh, a 1974 batch officer of undivided Bihar who was allotted the Jharkhand cadre after the new state was carved out in 2000.

“It’s a matter of pride for the state because it has given successive directors to the premier investigating agency. The appointment of Anil (Sinha) is more important because his name was approved by a three-member high-powered committee under the provisions of the Lokyukta Act,” said Neel Mani, former Bihar director-general of police.

Sources in the police brass said Anil Sinha’s stint as additional director-general in the state vigilance investigation bureau helped him get the assignment as additional secretary in the Central Vigilance Commission, New Delhi. “He was elevated to the coveted post (CBI director) as he has served with anti-corruption units both in the state and at the Centre,” said Neelmani.

Anil Sinha, who hails from Dumraon in Buxar district, returned to his parent cadre in 2005 at the behest of then chief minister Nitish Kumar. Nitish, who had just taken charge, had appealed to the Bihar cadre officers — both in the IAS and IPS — to serve the state as it required their expertise and experience for carrying out development work.

Anil Sinha served as additional director-general of police (law and order) before he was shifted to the vigilance bureau, where he dealt with disproportionate assets cases against senior government employees — a pet mission of Nitish who wanted to crack down on corruption. The officer again went on central deputation in September 2010.

Anil Sinha has been credited with giving final shape to the special auxiliary police (SAP), comprising retired soldiers, under the guidance of former director-general of police Abhayanand, who was then posted as ADG (headquarters). As the state was facing an acute shortfall of police personnel and law and order was on the government’s priority list, Anil Sinha, along with Abhayanand, convinced Nitish to rope in retired army personnel, who didn’t need additional training. The policy worked wonders.

“It was not possible to recruit policemen in such a short time, so we decided to rope in retired army personnel to assist the district police in crime control and anti-Naxalite operations. Basically, the idea was to control crime as well as activities of the Maoists with the help of retired soldiers, who were professionally trained to handle such a situation,” Anil Sinha had earlier told this reporter.

The officer had also played an important role in the formation of the Bihar Special Courts Act 2009, which empowered the state police to confiscate disproportionate assets belonging to corrupt public servants on the directive of the court even before their conviction.

A postgraduate in psychology with an MPhil in strategic studies, Anil Sinha started his career as additional superintendent of police (SP) of Bagaha in West Champaran district. Later, he served as SP of Bhagalpur, Aurangabad and Dhanbad in united Bihar. He was shifted to Aurangabad after the infamous Dalelchak Bagora massacre in 1987. He also held several important positions in the special branch and served as inspector-general of the Special Protection Group (SPG).

A relative of former DGP R.R. Prasad, Anil Sinha is known as an upright and honest officer. “Anil has been rewarded for his sincerity and honesty,” recalled a retired police officer who had worked under him.

Sources in the state police headquarters said three other IPS officers from Bihar — Sunil Kumar Jha, RS Bhatti and Ratn Sanjay Katiyar — were currently posted with the CBI. Bhatti and Jha are joint directors, while Katiyar holds the post of deputy inspector-general. A total of 37 IPS officers from Bihar are holding different positions at the Centre.

In addition to this, 33 IAS officers of the Bihar cadre are on central deputation. Some of them are holding key positions. Of them, one (Afzal Amanullah) is posted as secretary, eight as additional secretary and 24 as joint secretary in different central departments.