The Supreme Court’s scathing November 20 order passed against Ranjit Sinha, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), while hearing an application filed by the Delhi-based Centre for Public Interest Litigation, directing Sinha to recuse himself and not “interfere in the 2G spectrum investigation and trial”, has confirmed the worst fears of the tax-paying public that the CBI, constituted in 1941 as an autonomous crime investigation bureau with national jurisdiction, has been debilitated with corruption and patronage. It’s pertinent to note that the CBI, governed by the Union ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, is not a mere glorified police station based in Delhi. According to Wikipedia, the bureau is housed in a Rs.186 crore, state-of-the-art 11-storey building in New Delhi, with a built-up area of 75,000 sq. ft and equipped with modern communications systems, an advanced record-maintenance system, storage spaces, and computerised access control. Mandatorily headed by a director-general of police or state police commissioner drawn from the Indian Police Service (IPS), it has its own training academy spread over 26 acres in Ghaziabad, Delhi NCR and 52 branches across the country. Unsurprisingly, with 6,590 personnel on its muster rolls, this elite crime investigation agency costs taxpayers more than a pretty penny with its annual expenditure estimated at Rs.243 crore. Given the huge investment made annually by the public in the CBI, it’s a matter of wonder if not amazement, that Sinha who seems innocent of the most basic principles of crime investigation and sleuthing, has risen to the very top of this 6,590-strong agency. Only a complete duffer would invite suspects under investigation by CBI for wrangling telecom spectrum and coal mining licences to parley with him at his home in the night hours, a charge Sinha has admitted. That the head of the CBI is ignorant of elementary sleuthing and espionage norms raises disturbing doubts about the competence of agents and detectives in the lower reaches of the country’s premier crime investigation agency. Little wonder the CBI’s investigations are so clumsy and ham-fisted, and it’s been a while since it has obtained any worthwhile convictions. Vindictive network If further evidence of the incompetence and ignorance, if not contempt, for the law of senior IPS officers is needed, it’s been recently provided by R.P. Sharma, a Bangalore-based ADGP (additional director general of police) of Indian Railways, and a service (ex-officio) member of the vintage Bangalore Club (estb.1868). Under the rules of the club, members are obliged to paste a vehicular entry pass on the windshield of their motor cars to permit smooth entry into the club’s well-maintained and manicured premises. On November 4, Sharma’s car was stopped at the gate by the club’s security personnel as it didn’t display the mandatory entry pass. With typical arrogance, constables travelling with this exalted worthy belaboured the hapless security guard, prompting the club to suspend Sharma’s membership. Curiously, ten days after the incident, the state excise department raided the club premises to investigate violations of the Excise Act. The…
