Whose agents?

On a day like Thursday, it must be tough being the CBI. In the Supreme Court, the agency had to refute allegations that it concealed information on the detention of Bofors-accused Ottavio Quattrocchi in Argentina while informing the court that it had run up against another deadend: Swiss authorities have declined assistance in the money laundering case against Mr Q, saying it was time-barred. And there was the CBI again on Thursday, back to the wall, in another court. A bench of the Delhi High Court pulled up the CBI counsel appealing Sajjan Kumar8217;s acquittal by a special court in a 1984 riots case for 8220;not doing his homework properly8221;. Does the CBI deserve this ignominy? Left to itself, the CBI has succesfully investigated cases much more complicated than those involving politicians. So, the question is not about the agency but about its political masters.

Even as the CBI under the Congress-led UPA government launches an investigation into Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s allegedly disproportionate assets on UP poll-eve, it is held back from pursuing a similar case against his political rival. This, after the CBI told the apex court in 2006 that its investigation in the disproportionate assets case against Mayawati was complete. Does the CBI go-slow on Mayawati have to do with the Congress8217;s post-poll calculus in UP? The agency8217;s lack of drive in pursuing the disproportionate assets case against Lalu Prasad Yadav by appealing against his acquittal in a lower court speaks of the same political string-pulling.

Every government has played with the CBI. In the Babri masjid case, remember, the agency did not appeal against Advani8217;s acquittal during NDA rule and was pulled up later by the UPA for not doing so. There is only one way out of this circle: CBI must be made autonomous. In the Vineet Narain vs Union of India verdict, the SC unambiguously entrusted the CVC with the supervisory role, 8220;8230; to introduce visible objectivity in the mechanism to be established for overviewing the CBI8217;s working8221;. The CVC is supposed to exercise superindenting powers that insulate the CBI from politics. CBI directors are supposed to have tenure protection, to make them invulnerable to political displeasure. What happened? We need to reopen the question of CBI functioning.