The Central Bureau of Investigation’s arrest of its own sub-inspector and a lawyer close to the family of former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh once again raises concerns about what and who it chooses to investigate, and how. The CBI is investigating allegations that as Maharashtra Home Minister, Deshmukh asked police officials to collect bribes from Mumbai’s bars and restaurants. The serious charge of political corruption was made by the controversial former Commissioner of Mumbai Police Param Bir Singh, who also named Sachin Waze as the police official Deshmukh is said to have directed to organise the collections. Singh’s allegation, significantly, came after his own transfer, following Waze’s arrest in the Antilla security scare case. It was on Singh’s plea that the Bombay High Court directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry (PE) to establish if an offence was made out. Singh himself is now being investigated by the state government.
The CBI’s crackdown last week came after the PE report, which had concluded that no cognizable offence was made out against Deshmukh, became public. The CBI has not denied that report, it has said senior officers overruled the PE, and decided a corruption case was made out against the former minister. That isn’t quite convincing.
This editorial first appeared in the print edition on September 6, 2021 under the title ‘Curious case of CBI’.
