CBI TO CHANGE CRIME MANUAL AFTER LEGAL AMENDMENTS

NEWDELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is in the process of making changes to its crime manual in the wake of various amendments to laws, including the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, several Supreme Court judgments and the emergence of new types of crimes, an agency official said on condition of anonymity. The process should be completed by the end of this year, the official said.

The CBI’S crime manual lists standard operating procedures for probes, court procedures, processes related to collection of evidence, protocols for using technical units, and economic and cyber crimes, among others.

It has different units such as Anti-corruption Branch, Economic Offences Wing, Bank Securities and Fraud Cell (BS&FC), Special Crimes Division, Cyber Unit, prosecution, Central Forensic Science Laboratory. It is also the nodal agency for the global police body, Interpol, in India.

The last time the agency changed its crime manual was in July 2005, when US Mishra was its chief. At that time, the CBI took into account the 1997 Vineet Narain judgement in which the SC had laid down guidelines to ensure its independence and autonomy, the Information Technology Act 2000, Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003, Securities and Exchange Board of India Act 1994 and other laws while changing the crime manual after a gap of 14 years.

A second official said the latest crime manual will take into account changes made by the Modi government in the PC Act 2018 which now demands that the CBI will have to take approval before prosecuting a government servant. Similarly, there have been changes in banking rules following the unearthing of a series of suspected frauds involving businessmen like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya, among others.

The officer cited above added that efforts are also being made to increase coordination with different state governments and agencies.

THE LAST TIME THE AGENCY CHANGED ITS CRIME MANUAL WAS IN JULY 2005, WHEN US MISHRA WAS ITS CHIEF