CBI inquiries unlikely to be hit by change
With the change of guard at 7 Race Course Road, apparently the India’s primary investigative agency CBI will have to take extra precautions in dealing with investigating high- profile cases involving certain bigwigs of the new dispensation, though most of them are court monitored. However, many in the agency believe that with recent changes based on the Supreme Court directives on the functioning of the CBI, the political government of the day has very little “elbow room” to influence and manoeuvre the ongoing investigations.
The investigative agencies, especially the CBI, being part of the Executive and functioning under its administrative supervision, cannot afford to be on the wrong side of the government, experts believe. However, this argument is being negated by those who argue that investigations, especially of the CBI under the Criminal Procedure Code ( CrPC), are “quasijudicial” functions and the government of the day don’t have much to do on that front.
Reacting to this former CBI director, Trinath Mishra, told this newspaper: “Now time has changed. The change in the government has noting to do with CBI’s working at all. The CBI functions on the basis of criminal justice and investigative system. No authority can interfere in CBI’s functioning, especially in its investigations. It has been clearly defined in our CrPC that only police ( CBI) can investigate the cases. No authority has right to interfere in the investigation of the CBI, even the judiciary cannot.” “At the same time I would also like to say that one will have to see which way the wind blows”, said Mr Mishra.
Echoing similar view, another former CBI director, Joginder Singh, said, “It’s true that almost all Central investigative agencies are indirectly used or misused by the by the ruling party at the centre. CBI is the common whipping boy of the politicians, whenever it probes, the powerful and might”. But keeping in mind the recent directives of the SC, I am sure that the new government at the Centre will not directly or indirectly intervene in the functioning of the CBI, he added.