The feud between Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana in the CBI has sent its prestige, credibility and image down the drain.
The newspapers are replete with accounts of the internal feud between CBI’s number one officer Alok Verma and number two officer Rakesh Asthana. The matter has come to such a pass that the top boss has got a case registered against his deputy. This is not only unprecedented but also a serious assault on the credibility of an institution that was until recently referred to as the ‘premier investigation agency’ of India.
It was routine, until recently, that state governments, courts of law and even ordinary people wanted cases to be transferred to the CBI and investigated by it. They would turn to the CBI when they had no faith left in any other investigative agency. All that seems to have changed overnight, and in an irreparable manner. The prestige, credibility and image of the agency have been sent down the drain in what seems to be a clash of egos.
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Disputes, differences of opinion, ego wars are common in any organisation, but there are always ways and means to deal with them in a decent and graceful manner. They are best resolved internally. When things go out of hand in the case of government organisations, there is an intervention of the concerned ministry or even senior offices. What is most mystifying in the ongoing ‘La CBI Affaire’ is the utter indifference of the Narendra Modi government in allowing the situation to drift endlessly and come to this pass.
No one seems to understand what is at stake. The authority of any law enforcement agency rests not so much on its legal powers but on the mystique that surrounds it in the minds of offenders of law. In the case of the CBI, that would be the underworld, terrorists, conventional criminals, economic offenders and most of all, the corrupt in public offices. It was not very long ago that I have seen such elements shiver at the very mention of the CBI.
Dawood Ibrahim once confessed in an interview with India Today after the CBI arrested Yakub Memon, the investigative agency made him a mouse that had to keep hiding in a hole. “They have reduced me to a mouse. I am trapped and cannot move around freely,” he said. He added that wherever he went he imagined the next person to be a CBI agent.
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With the intractable damage to that mystique by the current controversy, the CBI now is no longer that premier investigation agency but a self-destructive and calamitous monster.
I wonder who will now ask for a CBI inquiry or investigation. With what face will a CBI prosecutor or investigating officer face a court of law? What clout will it wield in the minds of offenders of different hues? Which IPS officer would wish to join the CBI on deputation? What will be the fate of CBI cases in courts? All these questions and many more will have to be addressed and answered sooner than later. We, the citizens, should remember that the CBI — with its warts and all — has rendered yeoman service to the country in the past and performs a most important role. This cannot be denied.
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The warring chieftains need to be called by the powers-that-be, and their differences settled quickly in the interest of the country.
Neeraj Kumar is former police commissioner of Delhi. He set up the Special Task Force in the Central Bureau of Investigation in 1993 that probed the Mumbai blasts. He is currently chief advisor to the BCCI on corruption and security-related matters. He is the author of the book “Dial D for Don”.
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist,Barnala(Punjab)
The latest developments in the premier law enforcing agency of nation are shocking, at present touching the lowest ebb !
Very often the people in the states or the state authorities feeling non-plussed to find any mysterious-clueless -mindboggling crime cases / incidents used to request either the high courts or the apex court to order CBI Probe into the matter concerned !
That was the stature and reputation of the Central Bureau of Investigation ! From the Supreme Court’s ” the Caged Parrot ” brand,
it has now stooped so low to the level of washing of its own dirty linen in public !
Ironically, are the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister who took oath of secrecy to safeguard the constitution not utterly at their wits end, not have been silent spectators to the degeneration and deterioration in the topmost rule of law maintaining agency of India ? Where has their oath of impartiality, fearlessness, sans discrimination and objectivity vanished ?
Recently Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Chief Justice of India had been feeling a lot more concerned over the huge mounting pendency of cases in the Supreme Court, High Courts and lower Courts of India ! When the Number One and the Number Two in the CBI are involved in the fiercest tug of war, the fate of the justice delivery system can be very well be imagined ! In light of the present state of affairs in the nation, any number of judges,courts and infrastructure will prove to be too small and short because we have of our own decided not to learn the art of how to be mature, wise, broadminded and largehearted ?
When we do not actually think as a nation, think only in individual and self- centred fashion but ” pretending to be nationalists, the net outcome is there before us to observe !
We have to see back in a flash how we attained freedom and how much we had to sacrifice ! That freedom should be seen now in the broadest possible connotations with farsighted and visionary outlook with small sacrifices to be made here and there for the best interests of the society and nation !
Now do we not need an impartial, objective, upright, cleanest and rule of law adhering superior-specialist investigating agency other than the CBI ?Will it too serve the purpose,the answer is big no ?Any number of agencies other than CBIs, SITs cannot deliver the goods in vacuum or isolation ?
What is required in itself is the NATIONAL SPIRIT not only in CBI but in all the organs of the society and nation ? These should work in a spirit of cooperation and coordination for the betterment of society,nation and then ultimately world ?
Those at the helm of affairs of the nation should guide and lead the nation by visionary and selfless actions and examples !
Are the rhetorics, parochialism, ploys, theatrics,megalomaia and self-centredness of the highest order not slipping the nation into
the CBI Number One- Number Two Feuds situation with very negative and adverse far-reaching ramifications on the society in general and the nation in particular ! The institutions and organs of the nation are very badly found wanting in due discharge of their performance and responsibilities impartially and objectively !
The individual number one positions matter only when Nation remains Number One- on the top of the world !
The Indian Polity must wake up from its deep slumber to set the things as well as the record straight, otherwise won’t it be too late?
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
Pom Anm Nest,Barnala (Punjab)
One can only hope that we don’t get to read similar articles about the Supreme Court and the Election commission. The process of destroying institutions was started by Indira Gandhi and it appears to be in its final stages now.
The best course is for the intervention of PM/Home Ministry and relieve the concerned officers from duty for their unseemly conduct. And, rename the CBI (presently it stands for Central Bearau of Internet one quarrelling) into some other name. This will carry credence and credibility.
If a public servant has accepted a huge bribe, he should be prosecuted. There is no immunity in law for the no 2 person in the CBI or – even more unfortunately – the no 4 person in RAW. It is not as if someone should call the two top officials for a cup of tea and get them to shake hands. If there has been serious wrongdoing by an individual, let him face the penal consequences. As for systemic decline, that has been visible for a long time now. That is above the pay grade of the many fine officials who serve with dedication and integrity in the agency.
What’s happening inside CBI is shameful. Its turnished India’s prestige. All should be suspended and totally new set of officials entrusted with. The country is not in short of fit officials.