File photo of former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha
M L Sharma, who was in CBI for two decades, is all set to probe the alleged misdemeanors by former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha.
An expert in financial fraud and terrorism-related cases, Sharma, who served in the CBI till he was shifted to Information Commission in November 2006, will be approached by the Central Vigilance Commission with a formal request.
Mr Sharma, a 1972 batch IPS officer from Rajasthan government, emerged as the first choice of the Supreme Court to assist the CVC in its probe against Sinha, who during his tenure as the agency chief was accused of scuttling the probe in the coal block allocation scam.
66-year-old Sharma has had a wide range of experience during his service in the CBI which included successful extraditions of gangster Abu Salem and Babloo Srivastava, hijacking cases and cracking the assassination case of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
He has also dealt with several fraud cases and it was under his leadership that notorious fraudster A N Ghosh was extradited from Germany in 2007.
After the retirement of Vijay Shanker, Sharma was tipped to become the CBI director and his name had been cleared for the top post.
However, a last minute change in the order put his junior Ashwini Kumar as the new chief and Sharma was shifted to Information Commission.