Central Bureau of Investigation

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is a governmental agency belonging to Government of India that serves as both a criminal investigation body, national security agency and intelligence agency. The CBI is a premier investigating police agency in India. It is an elite force playing a major role in preservation of values in public life and in ensuring the health of the national economy. It is also the nodal police agency in India which coordinates investigation on behalf of Interpol Member countries. The services of its investigating officers are sought for all major investigations in the country.

The agency was established in 1941 as the Special Police Establishment. The Central Bureau of Investigation was later established on 1 April 1963. Its motto is "Industry, Impartiality, Integrity".

The agency headquarters is a state-of-the-art building located in New Delhi. The agency has other field offices located in major cities throughout the India. The CBI is controlled by the Department of Personnel and Training in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension of the Union Government usually headed by a Union Minister who reports directly to the Prime Minister. While analogous in structure to the FBI, the CBI's powers and function are severely limited to specific crimes based on Acts (mainly the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946). The CBI is the official Interpol unit for India.

As of 30 November 2010 the director of CBI is former Indian Police Service officer Amar Pratap Singh. He replaced Ashwani Kumar

History
The Central Bureau of Investigation, traces its origin to the Special Police Establishment (SPE) (Hindi: विशेष पुलिस संस्थापन Vishesh Police Sansthapan), which was set up in 1941 by the Government of India. The functions of the SPE were to investigate cases of bribery and corruption in transactions with the War & Supply Department of India, which was set up during the course of World War II, with its headquarters at Lahore. The Superintendent of War Department and SPE was Khan Bahadur Qurban Ali Khan who later on became the Governor of North West Frontier Province on the creation of Pakistan. The first legal advisor of War Department was Rai Sahib Karam Chand Jain. Even after the end of the War, the need for a Central Government agency to investigate cases of bribery and corruption by Central Government employees was felt. Rai Sahib Karam Chand Jain continued to remain the Legal Advisor when this department was later transferred to the Home Department under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act brought into force in 1946.

The scope of SPE was enlarged to cover all departments of the Govt. of India. The jurisdiction of the SPE extended to all the Union Territories and could be extended also to the States with the consent of the State Government concerned. Sardar Patel who was the Deputy Prime Minister of free India and was incharge of the Home Department took special interest in weeding out corruption from the erstwhile princely states like Jodhpur, Rewa, Tonk etc. Sardar Patel directed the Legal Advisor Karam Chand Jain to monitor the criminal proceedings against the Dewans/ Chief Ministers of these states.

CBI takes shape
As the CBI, over the years, established a reputation of being India's premier investigative agency with adequate resources to deal with complicated cases, demands were made on it to take up investigation of more cases of conventional crime such as murder, kidnapping, terrorism, etc. Apart from this, the Supreme court and even the various High Courts of the country also started entrusting such cases for investigation to the CBI on petitions filed by aggrieved parties. Taking into account the fact that several cases falling under this category were being taken up for investigation by the CBI, it was found expedient to entrust such cases to the Branches having local jurisdiction.

It was therefore decided in 1987 to constitute two investigation divisions in the CBI, namely, Anti-Corruption Division and Special Crimes Division, the latter dealing with cases of conventional crime, besides economic offences. The CBI is a central subject under the Constitution of India, meaning that it reports to the Indian Government and not to the individual states.

Organisation and rank structure
The CBI is headed by a Director, an IPS Officer of the rank of Director General of Police or Commissioner of Police (State). Director is selected based on the procedure laid down by CVC Act 2003 and has a tenure of 2 years. The other important ranks in the CBI can be also handled by IRS officers are Special Director, Additional Director, Joint Director, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Senior Superintendent of Police, Superintendent of Police, Additional Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police. The rest are recruited directly by the CBI, Sub-Inspector, Assistant Sub-Inspector, Head Constable, Senior Constable and Constable.

According to annual reports Staff of CBI is usually divided between Ministerial staff, Ex-cadre posts which are usually of technical nature, Executive Staff and EDP Staff. Hindi Bhasha staff belongs to the Department of official languages.

Ministerial Staff includes LDC, UDC, Crime Assistants etc. Executive Staff includes Constables, ASI, Sub-Inspectors, Inspectors etc. EDP Staff includes Data Entry Operators, Data Processing Assistants, Assistant Programmers, Programmers and SSA.

Director
The CBI is headed by a Director, an IPS Officer of the rank of Director General of Police or Commissioner of Police (State). He is selected based on the procedure laid down by CVC Act 2003 and has a tenure of minimum of 2 years.

D. P. Kohli as director


The founder director of the CBI was D. P. Kohli who held office from 1 April 1963 to 31 May 1968. Before this, he was Inspector General of Police of the Special Police Establishment from 1955 to 1963. Before that he held responsible positions in police in Madhya Bharat, Uttar Pradesh and Govt. of India. He was Police Chief in Madhya Bharat before joining the SPE. Kohli was awarded 'Padma Bhushan' in 1967 for his distinguished services.

Kohli was a visionary who saw in the Special Police Establishment the potential of growing into the national investigative agency. He nurtured the organisation during his long stint as Inspector General and as Director and laid the solid foundation on which the organisation grew over the decades to become what it is today.

Appointment
Director is selected based on the procedure laid down by CVC Act 2003 and has a tenure of minimum of 2 years. It is worth noting that CVC Act 2003 was established on the similar lines of the directions of Supreme Court of India in the infamous hawala scam.

Selection committee
The committee is empowered to recommend a panel of officers for the post of the Director of CBI. The committee consists of:


 * Chief Vigilance Commissioner—Chairperson
 * Vigilance Commissioners—Members
 * Secretary, Home Ministry—Member
 * Secretary (Coordination and Public Grievances) in the Cabinet Secretariat—Member
 * While making any recommendation, the committee takes into consideration the views of the outgoing Director.

The final selection is made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet from the panel recommended by selection committee.

Infrastructure
The CBI is headquartered at the Rs 186 crore(37.2 Million US$) new state-of-the-art building in New Delhi which is a 11-storey building will house all branches of the premier investigating agency under one roof and with many field offices in major cities in the country.

This building is spread in around 7,000 sq. mt and equipped with modern communication systems, advanced systems for maintaining records, fitted storage space and computerised access control along with a provision of add-on facility for new technology. Interrogation rooms, lock-ups, dormitories and conference halls are also provided at various floors. The CBI headquarters offer to its staff a large cafeteria which can accommodate 500 persons, separate gyms for men and women, a terrace garden and a double level basement parking for about 470 vehicles. An advanced fire-fighting system, as well as power back-up is provided. Besides, there is a well designed Press Briefing Room and Media Lounge.

CBI Academy at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, started functioning in 1996. The Academy is situated towards east of Delhi, in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh at a distance of around 40 km from New Delhi Railway Station and about 65 km from Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi. It is spread over of 26.5 acres (107,000 m²) of lush green fields and plantations with a covered area consisting of the Administrative, Academic, Hostel and Residential Blocks. Prior to that a small Training Centre was functional at Lok Nayak Bhawan, New Delhi only for conducting short term in-service courses. CBI then, was dependent on State Police Training Institutions and NPA, Hyderabad for training basic courses of Dy.SsP, SIs and constables.

This Academy now caters to the training needs of all ranks of CBI. Training facilities for certain specialised courses are also made available to the officials of State Police, Central Police Organisations (CPO), Vigilance organisations of public sector undertakings, banks and government departments and Indian Armed Forces.

Jurisdiction powers, privileges and liabilities
The legal powers of investigation of CBI are derived from the DSPE Act 1946. This Act confers concurrent and coextensive powers, duties, privileges and liabilities on the members of Delhi Special Police Establishment (CBI) with Police Officers of the Union Territories. The Central Government may extend to any area, besides Union Territories, the powers and jurisdiction of members of the CBI for investigation subject to the consent of the Government of the concerned State. While exercising such powers, members of the CBI of or above the rank of Sub Inspector shall be deemed to be officers in charge of Police Stations of respective jurisdictions. The CBI can investigate only such of the offences as are notified by the Central Government under the DSPE Act.

Jurisdiction of CBI vis-a-vis State Police
Law and Order is a State subject and the basic jurisdiction to investigate crime lies with State Police. Besides, due to limited resources, CBI would not be able to investigate crimes of all kind. CBI may investigate:


 * Cases which are essentially against Central Govt. employees or concerning affairs of the Central Govt. and the employees of the Central Public Sector Undertakings and Public Sector Banks.
 * Cases in which the financial interests of the Central Government are involved.
 * Cases relating to the breaches of Central Laws with the enforcement of which the Government of India is mainly concerned.
 * Big cases of fraud, cheating, embezzlement and the like relating to companies in which large funds are involved and similar other cases when committed by organised gangs or professional criminals having ramifications in several States.
 * Cases having interstate and international ramifications and involving several official agencies where, from all angles, it is considered necessary that a single investigating agency should be incharge of the investigation.

Power and jurisdiction of High Courts and Supreme Court
Notwithstanding above limitations, the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India have the power and jurisdiction to order a CBI investigation into a cognizable offence alleged to have been committed within the territory of a State without the consent of that State. This matter was settled by a five judge constitutional bench of Supreme Court of India (in Civil Appeal 6249, 6250 Of 2001) on 17 Feb 2010. The bench said: "Being the protectors of civil liberties of the citizens, this Court and the High Courts have not only the power and jurisdiction but also an obligation to protect the fundamental rights, guaranteed by Part III in general and under Article 21 of the Constitution in particular, zealously and vigilantly." At the same time, the court clarified that this extraordinary power must be exercised sparingly, cautiously and in exceptional situations.

Right to Information (RTI)
CBI is exempted from the purview of Right to Information Act. This exemption was granted by Govt of India on 9 June 2011 (along with National Investigating Agency (NIA), Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation and the National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid)) on the basis that CBI handles cases related to national security. However, this move was criticised by Central Information Commission as well as various RTI activists saying this blanket exemption is not in the letter and spirit of RTI Act. Six petitions were filed in various high courts challenging the validity of the notification. Madras High Court on 9 September upheld the validity of the exemption. Govt of India on 20 December 2011 filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of all pending cases before various high courts to the Supreme Court.

Corruption in CBI
Because of its intensely political overtones, it has been exposed by its former bigwigs like Joginder Singh and BR Lall who were Director and Joint Director respectively, to be engaging in nepotism, mal-prosecution and outright corruption. In his book, Who Owns CBI, BR Lall, an honest and upright officer details the modus operandi of manipulating and derailing investigation This organisation has become synonymous with corruption as information obtained under the RTI Act has revealed. Even the Top Bosses are known for stooping to illegal fund diversions. RTI activist Krishnanand Tripathi has alleged harassment from CBI in order to save itself from exposure through RTI. CBI has now been exempted from RTI act.

Mishandling of cases
Normally, cases assigned to the CBI are sensitive and of national importance. It is a usual practice for the respective state police departments, to initially register any case coming under its jurisdiction, and if necessary, through mediation by the central government, the cases may be transferred to the CBI. The CBI handles many high profile cases, and is never far from controversy. The CBI has come under severe criticism recently for its mishandling of several scams.

Bofors scandal
In January 2006, it was found that CBI had quietly unfrozen bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, one of the prime accused in the Bofors scandal of 1986 which had tainted the Rajiv Gandhi government. The CBI was responsible for the inquiry into the Bofors Case. Associates of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi were linked to alleged pay-offs made in the mid-1980s by the Swedish arms firm AB Bofors, with $40 million in kickbacks moved from Britain and Panama to secret Swiss banks. The 410 howitzer field guns purchased in the $1,300 million arms sale were reported to be inferior to those offered by a French competitor.

The CBI, which unfroze Rs 21 crore in a London bank in accounts held by Bofors scam accused Quattrocchi and his wife Maria in 2006, has facilitated his travel across the globe by asking Interpol to take him off the “wanted” list on 29 Apr 2009. Following a communication from the CBI, Interpol withdrew the Red Corner Notice against Quattrocchi. The development, that came barely three weeks before the end of the Manmohan Singh government’s tenure, brought the issue of the Bofors scandal back to centre stage. It is often suspected that ruling governments interfere with the work of the CBI, and the handling of the Bofors investigation by CBI under Congress governments has created a new synonym for CBI. After letting off the Bofors accused, Oppositions have never tired to call it the 'Congress Bureau of Investigation'.

Hawala scandal
In 1991 an arrest linked to militants in Kashmir led to a raid on hawala brokers, revealing evidence of large-scale payments to national politicians. The prosecution that followed was partly prompted by a public interest petition (see Vineet Narain), and yet the court cases of the Hawala scandal eventually all collapsed without convictions. The CBI's role was again criticised. In concluding the Vineet Narain case, the Supreme Court of India directed that the Central Vigilance Commission should be given a supervisory role over the CBI.

Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case
The CBI has been under a cloud owing to its handling of the Priyadarshini Mattoo case, in which Santosh Kumar Singh, the alleged murderer of a 22-year-old law student was acquitted for what the case judge called "deliberate inaction" by the investigating team. The accused was the son of a high-ranking officer in the Indian Police Service, due to which the case had been shifted from the regular police force to the CBI. However, the 1999 judgment commented on how "the influence of the father of the accused has been there".

Embarrassed by the judgment, the-then CBI Director, R K Raghavan, requested two Special Directors, P C Sharma and Gopal Achari, to study the judgement. Subsequently the CBI appealed the verdict in Delhi High court in 2000, after which the High Court issued a bailable warrant against the accused. The case was again prominent in 2006 after much media coverage and public bashing (this was mainly due to a similar acquittal in another high profile case, though not handled by the CBI). The CBI filed an application for early hearing in July 2006. The High Court subsequently found Santosh Kumar Singh guilty of rape and murder and awarded a death sentence for the same in October 2006.

Nithari Killings
The CBI was given the responsibility of investigating the murders of dozens of children in the Nithari village near Noida, UP. This was after the local police was found to be incompetent and lethargic in their investigations. The serial killings were in the Indian and international media for weeks since decomposing bodies were found outside the house of the accused Moninder Singh Pandher.

Dawood Ibrahim case
In August 2007, the CBI asked its Pakistani counterpart, the Federal Investigation Agency, for its comments on recent media reports about the detention of Dawood Ibrahim by authorities in Karachi.

Sister Abhaya murder case
Sister Abhaya murder case concerns a nun, who was found dead in a water well in Saint Pius X convent hostel in Kottayam, Kerala on 27 March 1992. Altogether there were five CBI inquiries into the murder case so far without any tangible results.

Sohrabuddin case
CBI has been accused of acting for the ruling party Congress (UPA) to trap its opposition party mainly BJP. CBI, which is dealing with the Sohrabuddin case in Gujrat, questioned Geeta Johri an IPS officer, who claims the CBI is pressuring her to falsely implicate former Gujarat Minister Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, Rajkot Police Commissioner Geeta Johri has alleged in the Supreme Court.

Sant Singh Chatwal case
Sant Singh Chatwal was an accused in the CBI’s records for 14 years. CBI had filed two chargesheets naming him as accused; sent Letters Rogatory abroad; even sent a probe team to the US and put Chatwal and his wife behind bars from 2 to 5 February 1997. On 30 May 2007 and 10 August 2008, former CBI Directors Vijay Shankar and Ashwani Kumar respectively signed orders saying there was no need to challenge the discharge of Sant Singh Chatwal and his co-accused. This was done in spite of advice of a string of investigators – including a Special Director and Joint Director – and it was decided not to appeal his discharge.

This, in effect, closed the principal case of bank fraud in which Chatwal had been embroiled for over a decade. Along with four others, Chatwal was charged with being part of a “criminal conspiracy” to defraud the Bank of India’s New York branch to the tune of US $8,992,815 (Rs 28.32 crore). In all, four chargesheets were filed by the CBI, with Chatwal named as accused in two. The trials in the other two cases are still in progress. RTI applicant Krishnanand Tripathi was denied access to public information concerning the closed cases. CIC later ordered the CBI to disclose the information. But CBI has recently been exempted from RTI act and it is unclear if this information will be disclosed. Sant Singh Chatwal has been awarded with Padma Bhushan despite these cases.

Malankara Varghese murder case
The Malankara Varghese murder case concerns the death of T. M. Varghese also known as Malankara Varghese, a member of Malankara Orthodox Church's managing committee and a timber merchant in 5 December 2002.On 9 May 2010 charged Father Varghese Thekkekara, a priest and manager of the Angamali diocese in the rival Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (a part of the Syriac Orthodox Church) with conspiracy in the murder of Malankara Varghese and named him as the prime accused. Till date, the prime accused has not been arrested, CBI is highly being criticised for this by Kerala High Court and Media.

Bhopal gas tragedy
The public perceived that the CBI was very ineffective in trying the Bhopal gas tragedy case. The former CBI joint director B. R. Lall has now confessed that he was asked to remain soft on extraditing the Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson, and dropped charges, including culpable homicide, against those accused in this case, who received two year sentences.

2G Spectrum Scam
Radio spectrum which is a precious and scarce natural resource of national importance was allotted by UPA government at throwaway prices to companies through corrupt and illegal means. Supreme Court of India pulled up the CBI many times for its tardy progress in the investigations. It was only after the SC decided to monitor its investigations  that CBI moved faster and arrests of high profile persons were made.

Amendment of single directive principle
Due to Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, even for initiating a preliminary inquiry against officers of the level of Joint Secretary and above, prior permission has to be taken from the minister of the concerned department. This is called single directive. Due to conflict of interest and other reasons, it is held up for months and as a result, big-ticket corruption is not covered effectively by the CBI.

In 2012, a group of 6 former CBI Directors and the then director AP Singh suggested that the power to grant permission (if at all necessary) should be given to the Lokpal.

Amendment of section 19 of Prevention of Corruption Act
Section 19 of Prevention of Corruption Act says that, no court shall take cognisance unless it is sanctioned by the competent authority to remove the accused from service.

A group of 6 former CBI Directors suggested that this power should be given to the Lokpal.

Amendments in Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC)
Section 197 of the CrPC (which applies not only to the CBI but also to the police) makes prior government sanction mandatory for prosecution. The group of 6 former CBI Directors suggested that this needs to be amended and the power should be given to the Lokpal.

Section 377 and 370 of the CrPC, provide the power of appeal and revision in criminal cases to the government. Under the Section 24 of the CrPC, the power to appoint public prosecutors is exercised by the government. Requests for appeal and revision have been turned down by the government.

A group of 6 former CBI Directors suggested that power to file appeals and appoint lawyers should be given to the CBI. Similar request was made by former CBI Director UC Misra to the Standing Committee on the CBI, but it was turned down.

Convictions
CBI has a high conviction rate.

In popular culture

 * The CBI franchise is a series of Malayalam films directed by K. Madhu, scripted by S. N. Swami, and starring Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer, a celebrated fictitious CBI officer. Till 2011, four films have been released in the series while a fifth one is in production. The films so far released are: Oru CBI Diary Kurippu (1988, A CBI diary note), Jagratha (1989, Caution), Sethurama Iyer CBI (2004) and Nerariyan CBI (2005, CBI In pursuit of truth).


 * S.P. Balasubrahmanyam plays the role of CBI officer Laxminarayan in the 1993 Tamil Thiruda Thiruda where CBI chases a stolen RBI money vault.


 * Zayed Khan plays the role of CBI officer Vishal Malhotra in the 2003 Hindi Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne.


 * Arjun plays the role of CBI officer Vivek Varma in the Tamil Bommalattam.


 * Vikram plays the role of Kanthasamy, a CBI officer in the 2009 Tamil Kanthaswamy.


 * Sanjay Kapoor plays the role of Ali Khan in 2010 Prince movie.