CBI not a tool in the hands of Centre: Govt

New CBI Director Ashwani Kumar rubbished allegations that CBI has turned into a ‘tool in the hands of the Centre to browbeat political rivals’.

Rubbishing allegations that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has turned into a “tool in the hands of the Centre to browbeat political rivals”, new CBI Director Ashwani Kumar on Friday said it was a professional organisation and enjoyed functional autonomy.

“It is wrong to say that CBI is a tool in the hands of the Central government. It is a professional organisation with professional autonomy enjoying good reputation world over,” Kumar, the Director General of Police of Himachal Pradesh, has been named as new Director of the agency, told reporters.

However, the new CBI director defended “legitimate interference” of the government, but said officers should guard against “illegitimate interferences”.

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Asked to elaborate, Kumar who was Joint Director in the CBI before becoming Himachal DGP on August one, 2006, said that by “legitimate interference” he meant directions from the government, to expedite investigation and go deep into the truth of any matter.

Asked about the serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad and the concept of a federal police agency, the new CBI Director, who is a Himachal cadre IPS officer of 1973 batch, said the agency was well equipped to take on new challenges.

“CBI is a government agency tasked with investigation of police cases. If the government, Parliament, Judiciary and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) charts out some new role for us we will be glad to perform those duties,” the 58-year-old IPS officer who is a resident of Sirmour district of Himachal, said.

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