CBI probes 5 of its own in a year

Deputy SP S S Ali,now posted at CBI Academy,Ghaziabad,has been accused of preparing incorrect records to save a person accused in a CBI case. Ali,against whom a case was filed on September 13,2011,had his suspension revoked on August 14. The case remains under investigation.

Ashok Raj Arora,a senior scientific officer,ballistics,posted at the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory,was arrested on May 6 this year. According to the CBI,Arora “obtained/attempted to obtain illegal gratification” from a property dealer in Ghaziabad by giving the false impression that he was a senior official posted with the CBI rather than with its wing CFSL. The agency found Rs 3 lakh in cash at his home. Arora remains suspended; a chargesheet was filed against him on June 30.

The other chargesheeted and suspended CBI employee,Subinoy Dutta,was posted as a clerk in the CBI’s special crime branch (SCB) in Kolkata. Booked on January 2,Dutta allegedly cheated the SBI’s Junlighat Branch,Port Blair,by forging the signature of the SP in a letter dated December 15,2011,and obtaining a personal loan of Rs. 2.65 lakh. Dutta was chargesheeted on June 26,2012.

R A Soni is an inspector in the CBI’s Jaipur unit. He was booked in June 2011,after someone else was arrested accepting a bribe,allegedly on Soni’s behalf. That person,Narottam Lal Swarnkar,was caught taking Rs 7 lakh from a man called Fateh Singh,who was under investigation in a CBI case. The chargesheet against Soni has been delayed “since there was no direct evidence against him”,said CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra. A chargesheet against Swarnkar was filed a year ago. Soni has been repatriated to his parent cadre.

In 2008-2010,three CBI employees had been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act,according to an RTI query this correspondent had filed last year. Dharini says none of the five accused this year are handling sensitive posts,“The CBI has an extremely strict internal vigilance mechanism. However,a large number of complaints against CBI officers are frivolous… with the intention of hampering investigations.”

Rights violation

A retired CBI official has been accused of human rights violation. In a notice on March 22 this year,the National Human Rights Commission has observed that certain action on part of former CBI deputy SP (Kochi) N Sunrendran,who retired this April 30 as additional SP,amounted to a violation of the human rights of a Kerala Police officer,V V Augustine,who has since passed away. The notice said the CBI is liable to compensate Augustine’s next of kin. The CBI had interrogated him in connection with the murder of Sister Abhaya in March 1992; he was the original investigating officer before the CBI took the case over.