CBI-A Tail Wagging Dog of Central Govt - 4

Probing the CBI
Critical to national credibility
From The Statesman
Just because the demand for probing the probe-machine has been made by opposition parties in the thick of electoral mudslinging does not render it invalid. The functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation has for far too long been marked by a disgraceful blend of brazen bending to political power and professional incompetence. The upshot being that most Indians have lost all faith in the investigative apparatus. Fish, the saying goes, rots from the head. So when what is projected as the country’s premier investigative agency is widely perceived as dancing to the tune of the ruling political entity there is an inevitable trickle-down effect ~ aam aadmi despairs while accepting the reality that the rich and powerful can get away with murder, and worse. And by natural extension, the credibility of government at large stands corroded. But do our netas give a damn? The quality of the CBI’s investigation has been covertly ridiculed by courts abroad, indeed even their foreign counterparts treat it with skepticism, hence attempts to extradite terrorists and hardened criminals make little headway. And like the netas, the top brass of the CBI (with rare exceptions) also do not give a damn. All the denials and clarifications from the Cabinet ministers concerned convince nobody. They are party to the crime.
Does anyone with a modicum of intelligence swallow the CBI line about there being no evidence against Quattrocchi, Tytler, Sajjan Kumar etc? The Bofors investigation and the probe into the state-sponsored massacre of 1984 must surely constitute classic cases of cover-ups. Yes, the CBI has no evidence against the principal accused simply because it deliberately did not collect it. If nothing worth the name is presented to law officers, what other opinion can they offer but to drop the charges? And what about the Arushi murder in Noida, did the CBI not make an unholy mess of that? This is not the first time the CBI has failed the nation: efforts by the Central Vigilance Commission and the judiciary to de-link the CBI from politics have failed, probably because few of its senior officials had the spine to stand up to “government”, or had been rewarded with those positions “for services rendered”. Regardless of what cobbled-up majority constitutes the next government, a comprehensive probe into the dubious conduct of the CBI, and genuinely insulating it from political influences is critical. But who will bell the cat? Not the entities now crying foul should they scrape their way to power a few weeks hence.

From The Sentinel
To add to the list of its ‘glories’, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), scoffed today as Congress Bureau of Investigation, has also freed Bofors kickback case accused Ottavio Quattrocchi by striking off his name from its list of most wanted persons. Quattrocchi is an Italian businessman and said to be a friend of the Rajiv Gandhi family — with a patent pointer to Sonia Gandhi’s Italian roots. It has now come to light that the 12-year Interpol red corner notice, or lookout notice, was taken off from the wanted section of the agency’s website reportedly on the legal advice of Attorney General Milon Banerjee. In the wake of the development and clean chit to Quattrocchi, the BJP and the Left have charged the Congress with frantic efforts to bury the investigation against him for obvious reasons. Even a former CBI director, Joginder Singh, has joined in, saying that the CBI had proof of Quattrocchi receiving $7.32 million as kickback in the Bofors case. However, the Congress has refuted the charges — the expedient argument being that nothing could be proved against the Italian businessman, implying thereby that the CBI has ultimately done a wonderful job by freeing an ‘innocent’ person. So what better godsend for the Congress, given that key figures in the case such as arms dealer Win Chaddha and former defence secretary SK Bhatnagar are already dead! But the question remains: Does the CBI today have any credibility worth the name?



The above is from a Editorial in "The Statesman" and "The Sentinel" of 30.04.2009.
It states what I have been saying all along.
People have lost all confidence in the CBI and foreign governments like our own Supreme Court laughs them off as jokers.
The CBI changes its brief as the government or its allies change.
Our last UPA government sometimes favoured Mayawati and sometimes Mulayam Singh and the CBI came to the Supreme Court with cotradictory briefs.
That is one of the reasons why most of our corrupt politicians (99%) are never convicted.
If we want that our inspection agency be taken seriously, it should be overhauled and made independent and free of the manipulation of the Central Government and its allies.
This is one PIL which every Indian would want.