The process of selecting the new Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director will begin on October 16 when the first meeting of the selection committee will be held under the chairmanship of chief vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar. Present CBI director AP Singh, who retires on November 30, is a special invitee. Union home secretary RK Singh, principal secretary to the prime minister Pulok Chatterjee and secretary of the department of personnel are also members of the committee.

There are 31 names for the CBI chief's post. The chosen person will enjoy two years' fixed tenure irrespective of the date of the person's superannuation. There are four serious contenders for the post: Indo-Tibetan Border Police chief Ranjit Sinha, National Investigation Agency chief SC Sinha, Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar and special director CBI VK Gupta.

Ranjit Sinha, a Bihar cadre IPS officer of 1974 batch, has been in the CBI before. SC Sinha, a 1975 batch Haryana cadre officer, has the backing of chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Neeraj Kumar, who is a former Delhi police commissioner, is a UT cadre officer from the 1976 batch. VK Gupta, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer of the 1977 batch, is a special director with the CBI.

It may be mentioned that the selection committee will give the list of three IPS officials to prime minister Manmohan Singh for his final consideration. It will be the prerogative of the PM to select one out of these officers as the next CBI director.