CBI identified 2,200 corrupt officials in 2015

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probed around 2,200 “corrupt” senior central officers in 2015, registering cases against 101 of them, the agency’s director Anil Sinha has said.

According to Sinha, the number of cases registered against “gazette” officers in 2015 was 94% higher than the corresponding figures for 2014.

In 2014, the CBI had registered 52 cases after a similar exercise, which usually employs physical and technical surveillance, against such officers.

As part of its crackdown on “corrupt” officials, the CBI also registered 67 cases in 2015, which was 56% more than the 2014 figure.

Sinha said that “fighting corruption and crime” effectively and in accordance with “correct” procedures has been his topmost priority, from the time he took charge of the agency over a year ago in December 2014.

“We have also given high priority to completing pending investigations. We have filed 1,044 chargesheets in 2015, which is the highest in the past five years,” Sinha said while interacting with reporters at the agency’s headquarters. “The mood of the people in the country is to fight corruption and crime. If the CBI will not side with them, who will? This is what that the CBI is doing as the premier anti-corruption agency,” said Sinha.

In the backdrop of the Bank of Baroda scam involving sending of Rs 6,000 crore illegal remittances it is probing, the CBI will also consult the Indian Banks Association to fine-tune a strategy on pre-empting such crimes in future, he said.

Asked about the agency’s constraints, Sinha cited the shortage of manpower as states are not keen on sending their officers on central deputation. He said that at the cutting edge levels, the staff crunch is “critical”.