Like the Federal Bureau of Investigation of America, the entire structure, rules, etc., of CBI should be made more effective.
New Delhi: Be it the recruitment scam of the Lalu Raj in the railways or the mining loot case of Hemant Soren in Jharkhand, leaders of parties on some TV news channels and some journalists also raise the question these days whether the Modi government of the BJP is responsible for the actions of the CBI. Is not choosing the time for your convenience and for putting pressure on opponents? But journalists like us who have covered the affairs of the CBI for four or five decades have been told by the directors of the CBI themselves that the leaders sitting in power or close to their alliance are guilty of corruption and other serious crimes. This delayed the investigation. Earlier, Joginder Singh, the most outspoken and transparent famous director in the investigation of Lalu Yadav’s fodder case, during the prime ministerships of Narasimha Rao, Inder Kumar Gujral, and H.D. Deve Gowda, told me about pressure being the reason for delay, etc. and later accepted it publicly as well. CBI Director Joginder Singhji, who gathered evidence during the investigation of leaders who had been enjoying power, was transferred by the Congress coalition government four months before retirement, that is, removed, and Lalu was jailed from the court after years. Even after this, Joginder Singh and some of his associate officials used to tell us that even during Manmohan Singh’s rule, legal action in the name of coalition compulsion slowed down and Lalu remained a minister at the Centre till 2009 and started new scams. The ruling coalition has had compulsions and impediments in its investigation into the 2G and mine distribution scams.
From this point of view, it should not come as a surprise that the investigation into the railway job recruitment scam, which began in 2021, continues till date. This fact should be kept in mind that whether it is a commission scandal or hawala scam, or coal mine distribution scandal, or 2G spectrum scam in Bofors purchase, it may take months and years to gather evidence from politicians, companies, brokers, relatives, or people close to the country and abroad. Some cases are also within the knowledge of the concerned minister not allowing legal action to reach the high court when a leader is in power. In fact, in 1972-76, when Devendra Sen used to be the director of the CBI, even in his annual report, the cases of corruption did not exceed from a few hundred rupees to a few thousand rupees. Public relations officer Bhishma Pal would sometimes give some information to a reporter like us and there would be more talk about art and culture. Then, in 1974, on my request, director Sen Saheb agreed to give an interview, and then the working of the CBI and the conversation with them appeared in details as a cover story in a leading weekly magazine, Dharmayug (Times Publications). Then director Devendra Sen told me, “The experience has been that, first of all, there is a demand to hand over a serious case to the CBI. But when the findings of the inquiry come to the fore as expected by the demanders, they begin to disbelieve it. Now tell me who will believe CBI if we start giving reports according to the demands of those who demand it? The CBI does not have either the budget or staff like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of America, and the biggest problem is limited authority.
A few months later, we got a piece of important information about investigation into the smuggling of uranium from the Jharkhand mine. Then in the Janata Raj, the case of the destruction of the film of Kissa chair came to the CBI. But then the Congress and Indira Gandhi came to power. Due to increasing political turmoil, corruption, influence of criminals in politics, and the rise of money and muscle power in elections, the cases of scams, murders, etc., that the CBI dealt with increased in number as well as the scam amounts involved. Despite the lack of resources, the number of officers in the CBI has remained the same. In the last few years, the name of even the former director of CBI has come under controversy in the coal mine distribution scam. At present, about 182 such cases have been pending in court for 20 years. About 1,597 cases have been pending for 10 years.
With the passage of time, not only the politicians, pimps, and officials, but also the bribe givers, have become more and more clever. That’s why the CBI has to connect so many strings in collecting evidence of the railway recruitment scam. The hearing and legal action, punishment, or acquittal will be decided only after the investigation and evidence are produced in the court. But from the case registered in 2021, this serious fact came to the fore that no amount of land was given to Lalu Yadav’s family members immediately. For recruitment in the railway, two ordinary employees first took land in the name of themselves or any close ones. Then after a few years, land worth lakhs of rupees was donated to the members of the Lalu family, wife Rabri Devi, daughter Misa, Hema, etc. in charity or at a very low price. After the arrest of Lalu’s close aide Bhola Yadav and now the raids on the houses of Sunil Singh and others, the proceedings in the court will proceed with digital or other documents and any confession. Therefore, the argument of former CBI officials is correct that the Lalu family, being in power, has been adept at delaying such investigations. That’s why they feel that the BJP government and the Prime Minister are in a hurry to get the court’s punishment by speeding up the investigation by declaring a “decisive fight” against corruption. There is also a formula of defence that the leaders sitting in Opposition should make loud propaganda and the impression that they can come back to power soon. This means officers have to be careful. After all, most of the officers in the CBI come on deputation from the states. Union minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh had admitted in Parliament that the CBI has 5,944 sanctioned posts and 1,329 are lying vacant. The government called for names from the states and the central police force, which could be placed after the approval of the Public Service Commission. On the other hand, most of the states do not have single-party governments. The result is that eight non-BJP-ruled governments have imposed 10 restrictions on the CBI from coming to their area because their own ministers or families, or officials are being registered for being implicated in economic crimes.
However, this is not the only situation for the Lalu family. The CBI and Enforcement Directorate can continue the investigation of serious cases related to leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Chidambaram and his son Karthik, Hemant Soren family, Uddhav Thackeray, Sanjay Raut, Sharad Pawar family, Nawab Malik, Amit Deshmukh, Satyendar Jain. A lot of waiting will have to be done for justice, i.e., the verdict of punishment or innocence from the investigation and the court process. Therefore, the recommendation of many politicians and legalists should be accepted that special courts should be set up to try corruption or other types of offences related to political leaders and decide after a time-bound regular hearing.
On the other hand, like the FBI of America, the entire structure, rules, etc. of CBI should be made more effective. There is a need to bring police officers only from the states and change the ghastly law of 1960-70 empowering the Delhi Police.
Politicians who are proven innocent will get relief and punished leaders will be restrained from contesting elections to Parliament or Vidhan Sabha and coming to power.
The author is editorial director of ITV Network India News and Dainik Aaj Samaj.