)
The Director of Central Bureau of Investigation Ranjit Sinha is perhaps facing his biggest crisis in the recent times. Sinha is under attack in the Supreme Court for meeting people at his residence who were under investigation by the agency for various scams including the infamous 2G spectrum scam and coal scam.
Sinha – who will retire in three months – has retaliated by saying that few vested interests are indulging in character assassination and he will file a perjury case against lawyer Prashant Bhushan. This (character assassination) is exactly what many people were complaining against the CBI till date. In the last few years, almost every top Indian corporate – be it the Tatas, the Birlas, the Ruias, Anil Ambani group, the Jindals brothers have either been investigated or are currently under CBI investigation. Most of them complained that the CBI was unfair and indulged in media trial.
While Sinha’s track record in filing cases against top corporates and industrialists and bankers is good, very few high profile cases have resulted in conviction. In a statement in January this year, the CBI says it has a conviction rate of 68.62%. But in most of the high profile cases like the Radia tapes, Birlas in Hindalco, Dardas in the coal scam and in the former Sebi Chairman’s CB Bhave case, the CBI filed closure reports with the courts or is in the process to do so. But the damage done to the reputation of these companies, their promoters and others is unimaginable. If the CBI was so confident of filing FIRs (first information reports) and then leak it to media, then it should have collected evidence with the same enthusiasm.
What Sinha is accusing others was the exact charge he was facing just a few months ago. I met some of the top CEOs when the CBI investigation was launched against them. Most were scared, and were afraid to take decisions. Industrialists are planning to invest more overseas instead of India in order to “de-risk” their business. The business climate was destroyed in the last two years as a weak UPA government was making mistake after mistake (CWG scam, Tatra scam, Coal scam, 2G scam).
ALSO READ: Ranjit Sinha: In the hot seat
Going by the CBI’s statement on its conviction rate, Sinha has done a good job but it was not enough.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to take a call in the next three months on the next CBI director. The next CBI director will have to restore public’s confidence in the investigating agency and make sure that reputation of innocents are not tarnished. The next CBI director will also have to make sure that his own officials are not giving contradictory versions in a case as it happened many a times in the high profile cases.
Under the Indian Law, the accused are presumed to be innocent till their guilt is finally established after a fair trial. Let’s respect that and yes a media trial should be avoided at all costs – especially in these excitable times.
