The cop of the moment

CBI Joint Director V V Lakshminarayana is known for having a surprise element in everything he does. The dashing joint director, who compulsorily attends court hearings in Nampally Criminal Court complex has stopped using the lift and instead takes the stairs. This is not related to his love for exercise; rather the joint director and a few others recently faced tense moments after the lift in which they were getting down got stuck between two floors, forcing the joint director to jump out of the lift.

Lakshminarayana has become a point of discussion almost everywhere, not only in Andhra Pradesh, but across the country as he goes about questioning and arresting top politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists.

Presently, Lakshminarayana is heading several high profile investigations including the alleged illegal assets case involving Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, APIIC-Emaar scam, Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) scam involving former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case and the most recent being the probe into the corruption charges against former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.

Born and brought up in Srisailam in Kurnool district, Lakshminarayana is the son of a retired government engineer. After his schooling, he moved to Regional Engineering College (REC) in Warangal to complete his BE in mechanical engineering. He opted for IPS and was allotted the Maharashtra cadre.

He worked as Superintendent of police (SP) of Nanded and then in the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad. Keen to work for the CBI, he opted to be deputed to the agency. Though his term in CBI came to end, the CBI bosses in Delhi extended his term by another two years. He also received the Indian police medal in 2006.

“He is sharp, unpredictable and keeps up the surprise element in every investigation he heads. Otherwise, he is a calm and cool person who starts his day with a brisk walk in a park early morning,” says a source close to Lakshminarayana.

The State Government recently provided him with ‘Y’ category security in view of the high profile cases being investigated by him. Lakshminarayana’s jurisdiction also extends over Karnataka. “Going by the way he is investigating the high profile cases, he has become a youth icon,” says the source.

Lakshminarayana believes in the credo ‘don’t let the left hand know what the right is up to.’ He is thorough when it comes to legal documentation for his cases. Those who know Lakshminarayana say he is a low-key man who just happens to be at the helm of high profile probes. He feels strongly about corruption. His plus point is his handling of legal issues, especially documentation (since in all the cases he has investigated, the documents seized ran into thousands of pages). He does not get bogged down by work pressure. Lakshminarayana is also very attached to his school and college.