New CBI chief Praveen Sood seeks PowerPoint presentation from senior staff

New Delhi: A keen desire to know the finer details of the working of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at the earliest and the welfare of its personnel seems to have emerged as the two cornerstones of the working style of the new agency director Praveen Sood, said sources.

After taking over charge as the new chief of CBI, Sood sought a PowerPoint presentation from all senior department heads.

“All Joint Directors (Inspector General rank officials) heading zones and other departments were asked to make PowerPoint presentations not exceeding seven slides to provide the new director of CBI key details about their departments or zones,” said an official asking not to be quoted as he is not authorised to speak to media.

Sources said Sood hasn’t worked in the CBI earlier and it has proved to be a major handicap for some of the earlier CBI directors but the new chief didn’t lose time to know about the agency’s working and its key zones and their work through short PowerPoint presentations.

The Prime Minister-led high-powered selection committee picked up Sood as the new chief of the central anti-corruption agency for a period of two years.

Sood is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Karnataka cadre belonging to the 1986 batch and was the Director General of Police of the state before coming to New Delhi as the chief of the CBI.

Sood took over as the CBI chief on May 25 after Subodh Kumar Jaiswal completed his tenure on the same day as director of the agency.

Sources said Sood in his interactions with the senior staff has also stressed making families of the CBI personnel comfortable if the services of the agency officials are to be utilised to the optimum.

Sood is learnt to have told senior officials that their sleuths can work to the best of their abilities only if their families are being taken care of with due dignity. He also termed the CBI as one big family.

Even while leaving Karnataka, Sood had listed constructing 10000 quarters for police personnel as his major accomplishment.

He had said: “I could give dignity to the families of policemen by giving them two-bedroom and two-toilet houses.”

The welfare of subordinates seems to be a constant in Sood’s working style and it looks like he will carry the same spirit while working as the CBI chief, say sources.