R Chethan Moves to CBI as Deputy Inspector General on Five-Year Deputation

R Chethan, a 2010-batch IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre, has been inducted as Deputy Inspector General in the Central Bureau of Investigation. The induction is on deputation basis for a term of five years.

A DIG in the CBI supervises a cluster of branches or a specialised zone and sits between the Superintendent of Police who runs the investigation and the Joint Director who answers for a division. The rank carries the authority to approve the filing of charge sheets in most categories of cases, to order transfers of investigation between branches, and to clear requests for sanction of prosecution before they go to the competent authority. Much of the agency's internal quality control on evidence happens at this level. The DIG also handles the agency's coordination with state police forces, which is required whenever a case involves offences registered locally or when local assistance is needed for searches and arrests. Requests for sanction of prosecution against public servants pass through this level before being sent to the competent authority in the concerned ministry or department.

Chethan has served about sixteen years in the Karnataka cadre. An officer of that vintage would have held charge of at least two districts as Superintendent of Police, served in the Bengaluru city police in a Deputy Commissioner role, and spent time with a specialised wing such as the Criminal Investigation Department or the Economic Offences Wing. Karnataka's policing load is shaped by Bengaluru, which generates a disproportionate share of the state's cybercrime and financial fraud registrations, and officers who pass through the city police at DCP level acquire early exposure to technology-driven investigation. Karnataka also carries a substantial load of cases involving land records, mining and public recruitment, and officers of the cadre have worked with the state's Lokayukta machinery on corruption investigations. That background maps closely onto the CBI's own anti-corruption caseload, which forms the largest category of cases the agency registers each year.

He was serving in the Karnataka cadre before the induction. Officers are relieved for CBI deputation only after the state government agrees, and the Centre issues the order once that concurrence is received along with vigilance and integrity clearance from both the state and the Department of Personnel and Training.

The CBI continues to recruit at DIG level from state cadres rather than relying on internal promotion alone, a practice that keeps a flow of officers with recent field experience into the agency's supervisory ranks. Five-year terms at this level are now common. They give an officer time to see a set of cases through from registration to trial, which a shorter posting rarely allows given the pace of proceedings in special courts. The agency's strength has been raised in stages through additional sanctioned posts, but vacancies at the investigating and supervisory ranks have persisted because state governments have been reluctant to release officers. Inductions of this kind are processed individually and take several months from proposal to order.

The CBI's DIG-rank officers currently oversee branches handling bank fraud, corruption cases against central employees, and matters transferred by constitutional courts. The agency is also handling a growing volume of cases involving recruitment examinations and question paper leaks, which require coordination with multiple state police forces. Supervisory ranks carry responsibility for keeping investigations within the timelines that courts increasingly set. Several states have withdrawn general consent under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, which means the agency must obtain case-specific approval before registering cases in those states. Supervisory officers handle the coordination that this requirement adds to each new investigation.

The deputation is for five years from the date Chethan assumes charge. He belongs to the 2010 batch of the Indian Police Service, Karnataka cadre.