The Central Bureau of Investigation joint director (east), U N Biswas, has always been an exceptionally principled officer, intent on doing what he thinks is right, notwithstanding any pressures or consequences. So much so that he was considered a maverick even when he was training, according to one of his batchmates.
Biswas heads the investigation into the animal husbandry scandal in Bihar and there is every indication that he will serve a chargesheet to Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the next few days. Yadav has asserted that he will not resign.
That could lead to a political assault on the Janata Dal (JD), which he heads at the national level, and could destabilise the Deve Gowda government at the Centre. The Left parties, some of which are important constituents of the United Front (UF), and defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadavs Samajwadi Party have already agitated against the corruption of the Bihar government.
Some of those who are close to the investigating team say that the team has not had any doubt for some time now that there is enough evidence to name Yadav in a chargesheet.
And, they add, Biswas is not the sort of person to buckle under any amount of pressure.
There has been no dearth of pressure. Yadavs political associates have been in touch with Biswas friends, batchmates, religious leaders and other associates, seeking to win friends and influence Biswas.
At least some of his associates told a senior JD MP who had gone to meet him at his residence that Biswas would stop associating with him if he were to ask him to go slow on any case.
Yadav seems to have decided now to try and fight Biswas politically, by branding him as a Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) agent. His problem in politically targetting Biswas, who is a Buddhist, is that Biswas belongs to a Scheduled Caste. Yadav can hardly call this an upper caste conspiracy against him, as he has dubbed earlier attacks from the bureaucracy, the media and others.
Yadav recently said that Biswas was indulging in leaderi (politics) by talking to the press before the investigation was complete.
He attacked Biswas by name, saying that he was transgressing his power as an investigator and trying to be a prosecutor too.
Yadav gave a long lecture to his party colleagues at the Dal Political Affairs Committee meeting last week about Biswas biased approach.
He said that such an act deserved suspension.
He is trying to be another T N Seshan. He should not be suspended now. He will then start projecting himself as a martyr, a Dal leader who attended the PAC said.
