Chennai:
The Tamil Nadu government today suspended Archana Ramasundaram, hours after the 1980-batch Director General (DG)-rank IPS official took charge as an Additional Director in the Central Bureau of Investigation, or the CBI.
The Tamil Nadu Police, according to sources, issued the suspension order today because Ms Ramasundaram, who becomes the first woman to reach such a senior position in the country's premier investigation agency, had failed to obtain the state government's consent before taking up her new assignment.
Ms Ramasundaram has reportedly been directed by the state police to report back in Chennai. She was the chairperson of Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board before joining the CBI.
Her appointment in the CBI in February had spawned a controversy because her elevation to the Additional Director's post was pushed by the investigating agency's Director Ranjit Sinha, while the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the country's apex anti-corruption watchdog, had recommended the name of R K Pachnanda, a 1982-batch west Bengal cadre IPS official. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet, or the ACC, finally cleared Ms Ramachandran's name.
This is her second stint in the CBI. She had earlier served the agency as a deputy inspector general, before being promoted to the rank of joint-director, the first woman to do so.