Washington: A top Indian-American lawyer and civil rights activist is leading a Federal probe into the events in Ferguson, Missouri, in which a Grand Jury chose not to indict a white police officer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager. The Obama administration last month appointed Vanita Gupta to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which is continuing its probe even after the Grand Jury decision. Gupta, who was formerly a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), was already involved in a Ferguson investigation in that capacity when she was named by Attorney General Eric Holder as the acting civil rights division. The division is now spearheading the Federal probe.

Gupta was also previously associated with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which is now leading the agitation to bring justice to the family of Michael Brown, the slain teenager. Although she has not spoken publicly about Ferguson since her appointment, Gupta had criticized the militarization of the US police previously, a topic that featured prominently on Monday when President Barack Obama called for a meeting in the White House to discuss the Ferguson episode and its fall-out. She is also co-author of a study on the militarization of local police departments.