Memoirs of a CBI chief, inside and outside

KOCHI, FEB 22: quot;Tiger'' Joginder Singh is again on the prowl. After his controversial book Inside the CBI, the former CBI director i...

KOCHI, FEB 22: quot;Tiger8221; Joginder Singh is again on the prowl. After his controversial book Inside the CBI, the former CBI director is penning his memories for the second time and the new book is to hit the stands soon.

Titled Outside the CBI, the book will track the political developments and the series of scams and related developments that have shaken the country since the late 80s, Joginder Singh told The Indian Express.

Individuals who daringly fought corruption at high places, scams, kickbacks and nepotism will figure in the forthcoming book, Singh said.

The central characters in the high-voltage political dramas covered in the book include some former prime ministers. The book, with recent political history as its background, will have almost all the developments that could not be included in the first one, says Singh.

8220;I8217;m still debating with myself on the information that is to be included. Some former prime ministers are sure to surface in the book, without whom the bookwill not be complete. Though I will not name anyone, sufficient indications for identifying the characters will be there. Murky deals by power-brokers and politicians who siphoned off public funds will be exposed,8221; Singh said, referring to the spicy inclusions.

Here is a vignette of what the book contains 8212; a former Telecom Minister awarding contracts for the supply of optical fibre cables to two companies from his home state which were not in the fray, a case that was adjourned 258 times, a CBI officer who stayed in the US for two months to investigate a case but hadn8217;t filed a report even two years after the visit, CBI technical officers extorting money, details of the Bitumen and Medical scams8230;.

Singh does not mince words while talking about former prime ministers H D Deva Gowda and I K Gujral. 8220;Gowda was the only positive8217; prime minister regarding the CBI and he alone took the initiative for resolving many of the issues the agency faced.8221;

Story continues below this ad

8220;Though Gujral promised me not to interfere with thefunctioning of the agency, my experience proved otherwise. He intervened in the investigation of the infamous fodder scam only to save his friend Laloo Prasad Yadav. He also engineered a split in the party for Laloo. By forcing me out of the CBI, Gujral was trying to save Laloo,8221; says Singh.

8220;When Inside the CBI was released, one of the private television channels approached Gujral for a reaction, to which he said no. He cannot deny even a single line of my book,8221; beamed Joginder.