Team Anna supports CBI on Lokpal

He said the recommendations,if implemented,will cripple the functioning of CBI.

“Preliminary inquiry is being made compulsory in all cases which may warn the corrupt that he is under CBI radar and allow him to protect himself before a raid takes place. We support CBI’s argument and they are rightly protesting the recommendations,” Kejriwal said.

He accused the government of using Hazare’s campaign to dilute the role of CBI.

His comments came as CBI wrote a letter to Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT),saying the proposed move to make preliminary inquiry by Lokpal mandatory before giving cases to CBI will “severely impair” effectiveness of the agency in anti-corruption cases as it would lose the “surprise element” to carry out search operations,sources in the agency said.

According to the letter,the agency at present gathers information from various sources and plans and executes a search operation to collect documents and evidence.

The agency also cited lack of enthusiasm about the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Lokpal Bill that all complaints of corruption cases which are in the nature other than trap cases shall first be scrutinised by Lokpal by holding a preliminary inquiry.