Twitter
Advertisement

Ranjit Sinha leaves CBI with scars, Government faces task to redeem it

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Every year the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) brings out an undesirable contact list containing the names of shady wheeler-dealers and circulates internally to all the ministries with a caution of “not to entertain them”.

It is an irony that at the time of ending his inglorious tenure on Tuesday, CBI chief Ranjit Sinha is leaving with a blot of meeting hundreds of such undesirable contacts that were exposed by the dna in a series of stories. The stories led to a never before indictment of CBI chief when the Supreme Court asked Sinha to recuse himself from the 2G probe. 

Meanwhile, as the CBI sits in hope of restitution of faith in its abilities, prime minister Narendra Modi is all set to take a decision on its next chief in a high-level meeting on Tuesday. This will be the first appointment of the CBI director after the Lokpal Act came into force this year.

Among the names doing rounds are Director General of Rajasthan Police Omendra Bharadwaj and special secretary in home ministry Prakash Mishra — 1977-batch IPS officers from Rajasthan and Odisha respectively.

1978 batch IPS officer and at current chief of Kerala Police, KS Balasubramaniam is also reported to be in the race.

Controversies have never been alien to Ranjit Sinha, a 1974 batch Bihar cadre IPS officer, including the time when he was catapulted from DG ITBP position to the plum post of director CBI in 2012 amid strong objections by the then leaders of opposition in the parliament Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.

Adding to the unprecedented controversy in which 10 Janpath alleged to have lobbied hard for Sinha was Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar's petition before the Central Administrative Tribunal challenging Sinha’s appointment as CBI director.

Kumar was protesting because his name was not on the shortlist from which the government hand-picked Sinha, a dark horse.

However, Sinha’s chequered past goes back to the days of fodder scam against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. As a DIG in CBI in 1990s, Sinha was accused by the then CBI joint director, UN Biswas of interfering in the fodder scam to protect politicians and bureaucrats.

Biswas’s submission in the Patna high court that the fodder scam report submitted was not the original document, but the one put together by his deputy, Sinha had created a major controversy then. Sinha was accused of conniving with Bihar politicians to change the report with court taking a strong view of report being truncated and sketchy.

The events ostensibly led to Sinha’s transfer from the CBI and Lalu landing in jail and losing his chief ministership.

Lady luck smiled on an out of favour Sinha in 2008 when Lalu, the then railway minister, brought him as DG of the Railway Protection Force (RPF). With Mamata Banerjee succeeding Lalu as the railway minister in May 2009, Sinha moved to the ITBP as DG amid opposition by the BJP.

Thereafter, his two years stint in the CBI remains a known tale of bringing ignominy to an institution that prompted several former CBI chiefs to come out in the open against Sinha.

Reflecting on apex court’s severe indictment of Sinha, former Joginder Singh reportedly said, “The conduct of the CBI director should not only be clean but also appear to be clean…Every act has its consequences. There is no smoke without fire. Whatever the Supreme Court has said is absolutely correct.” 

Former CBI chiefs RK Raghvan and Vijay Shankar too squarely blamed Sinha for giving a body blow to the premier agency and added that that it will take a long time for CBI to recover from this blow and to restore the credibility back to the agency in the courts.

Now, the onus of choosing CBI director is also on the leader of single largest party, the Congress thanks to the amendment in the passed the amendment to the DSPE bill, and the chief justice of India. May the best man get the coveted post and let CBI earn its lost prestige. 

 

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement