CAN CBI SURVIVE THE ‘CIVIL’ WAR?
No war fought without weapons could be messier. The CBI’s apparently internecine feud—with CBI chief Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana, both on gardening leave, accusing each other of corruption—has spilled out into the corridors of the prime minister’s office and now the halls of justice, like some out of control bar brawl. The press, meanwhile, looking on with unabashed glee, are shouting “fight, fight!” All the unruliness has prompted a schoolmarmish scolding from the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, who spent a few minutes fuming about leaks before adjourning proceedings to the end of the following week.
The object of CJI Gogoi’s ire was not entirely clear. It was either about the leak to a website of Verma’s sealed response to a report by the Central Vigilance Commission on the accusations against him—which the site denies was the basis of its story—or it was about the leak to national media of astonishing claims by another top CBI officer, M.K. Sinha, that the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a Union minister and Central Vigilance Commissioner K.V. Chowdhury interfered in the investigation of Asthana.
Sinha, who was on the team probing allegations against Asthana, approached the Supreme Court on Monday, November 19, with what his lawyer described as “shocking revelations”. The bench, consisting of Gogoi, and Justices S.K. Kaul and K.M. Joseph, was unmoved and denied Sinha an urgent hearing, following which the content of those revelations was published in the media.
“This court,” thundered the affronted bench, “is not a platform for people to come and express what they want... Our effort to maintain the respect of this institution is not being
shared by everyone.” The court also expressed concern for the “dignity” of the CBI. But that particular horse had long bolted the stable. Last week, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee joined her Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu in withdrawing the CBI’s authority to conduct raids and investigations in their states as it saw fit, without having to seek permission.
The chief ministers’ joint action continued to give the CBI’s ‘internal’ conflict a decidedly political hue. Asthana has been characterised as the prime minister’s “blue-eyed boy”. And the government’s midnight ousting of Verma, followed by the transfers of several CBI officers, some of whom were investigating the charges against Asthana (also put on leave), did nothing to stop tongues wagging. Sinha, who was one of the officers transferred, is now being seen as a combatant on Verma’s side. His allegations against Doval and others have been described by government sources as wild and far-fetched.
Sinha—who was investigating allegations that Asthana had been paid off by Hyderabad businessman Satish Babu Sana to keep his name clear of an investigation into prominent meat exporter Moin Qureshi—claims top government functionaries, including a minister, also took bribes from Sana. He says the likes of NSA Doval tried to protect Asthana. Sinha, involved in a number of major investigations, including the multi-billion-dollar scam perpetrated by jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, had himself apparently aroused suspicions by being among those who enabled former Aircel owner C. Sivasankaran, accused of bank fraud, to escape. Sivasankaran is now a citizen of the Seychelles; former finance minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti are also implicated in the Aircel-Maxis case.
The allegations continue to fly. Will any stick? And how will the CBI put out the inferno without itself being reduced to ashes? The CBI’s origins are in the Special Police Establishment set up in 1941 by the Government of India to investigate corruption in the procurement of wartime supplies. It is an irony that the CBI’s potential demise, at least in this form, could be the consequence of the institutional corruption and political chicanery that has rotted from within a once respected institution.
Sinha, now batting for Verma, was suspected of being among those who helped Aircel’s C. Sivasankaran escape