New Delhi: From the UPA-era coal block allotment case to the disproportionate assets case against DMK’s A. Raja and the case against fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi. Thirty-one officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who probed these and other high-profile cases have been awarded the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service and Meritorious Service on the occasion of 75th Republic Day.
The medals for distinguished service have been conferred on six officers while 25 others have been awarded for their meritorious service.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced Thursday that as many as 1,132 officers of police, fire services, home guard & civil defence and correctional services were awarded service or gallantry medals this year.
Among the six officers who received the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service are IPS officers Amit Kumar and Vidya Jayant Kulkarni. Kumar served as joint director of the CBI’s anti-corruption wing in Delhi until earlier this month when he was repatriated to his home cadre, Chhattisgarh, as additional director general of the state police.
Sources in the agency told ThePrint that Amit Kumar investigated multiple sensitive and complicated cases in his 12-year tenure with the agency where he worked in different capacities ranging from superintendent of police, to deputy inspector general before becoming joint director.
The 1998-batch IPS officer was leading the team which investigated the coal block allotment case as well as the team that laid a trap to catch a senior Railways official in a Rs 1 crore bribery case, added sources.
Kumar, said one source, was a master in dealing with “collusive corruption” in which the victim does not come forward to complain and the agency has to gather information from its network of sources to reach the site where the bribe was taken.
A second source added that as head of the anti-corruption unit, Kumar was representing the agency on a joint coordination committee comprising officers from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Financial Intelligence Unit, Department of Revenue, Income Tax Department, Serious Fraud Investigation Office and Customs.
This committee was tasked with planning for the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review and United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) compliances.
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‘Job of police without the uniform’
Vidya Jayant Kulkarni, another IPS officer who received the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service, is currently heading the CBI’s Chennai Zone office as joint director.
Over the years, Kulkarni has probed many high-profile cases including a disproportionate assets case against former Union minister A. Raja. The chargesheet against Raja was filed under her tenure, said sources.
Additionally, the 1998-batch officer of Tamil Nadu cadre also busted a Rs 100 crore scam involving fraudulent premature closure of fixed deposits of Chennai Port Trust. Many accused in the case are still behind bars.
Among the 25 awardees of the President’s Medal for Meritorious Service is Raghvendra Vats, who led the team of CBI officials which initiated the probe in the Delhi excise policy case that has landed many high-profile ministers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, in jail.
Another recipient is IPS officer Sharada Pandurang Raut of the CBI’s economic offences branch in Mumbai. Raut was earlier part of the agency’s banking securities fraud branch (BSFB) which probed the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud involving Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
Another IPS officer to have won the award is Veeresh Prabhu Sanganakal, who is currently leading the BSFB unit of the agency in Mumbai and investigated the alleged Rs 805 crore ‘Mumbai airport scam’ involving the airport’s former promoter GVK Group.
Another recipient is IPS officer Prem Kumar Gautam, who is now back with his home cadre of Uttar Pradesh after serving as operational DIG in many of the special operations carried out by CBI teams led by Amit Kumar, sources in the agency told ThePrint.
“Working in CBI compared to state police is that there is focussed attention on the investigation of cases while at the state level officers have many tasks at their hands. Another difference is that CBI officers are more exposed to court proceedings in the cases investigated by them compared to the state level where Investigating officers are not at that senior level,” one CBI officer told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
Another said working in the CBI sounds like fulfilling the duty of the police while not wearing a uniform and though there is a lot of focused attention on the investigation process, it also brings with it increased and sustained scrutiny owing to the sensitivity of cases handled by the agency.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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