For Rakesh Asthana, new role as Delhi Police Commissioner comes as vindication

He was recently knocked out of race to be CBI Director

: Just four days before his superannuation, the Modi government has given a plum assignment to Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, with a year’s extension in service. The 1984-batch officer was scheduled to superannuate on July 31. On July 27, he was appointed Police Commissioner and also granted deputation from the Gujarat cadre to the Union Territory cadre to enable him to be the boss of police in the country’s capital, where the force reports to the Union Ministry of Home. For , the appointment order came as a vindication of his “competence” just two months after he was unexpectedly knocked out of the race to be CBI Director when the Chief Justice of India (CJI), in a high-powered committee meeting with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, cited six months’ residual service for those to be considered for the post.