Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director, R.C.Sharma.

After the exit of Joginder Singh, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been caught in a transition trap. As officials dealing with sensitive cases try to cope with the changed style of functioning at India's top investigating agency, many politically sensitive cases are put on the backburner.

One reason for the sluggishness of investigations is the style of functioning of the new director, R.C. Sharma, who is wary of hasty investigations and chargesheeting. Another is the known stand of the new director on some of the sensitive cases.

For instance, on the Bofors case, Sharma in his earlier capacity as Joint-Director had actually managed to keep a lid on the AE Service documents which established payments to Ottavio Quattrocchi and provided a vital link to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi for seven years. Also, Quattrocchi was allowed to leave the country after it was known that the former Snamprogetti representative was an appellant in the Swiss federal courts.

Apart from the baggage of the CBI director, the transfer of some senior officers immediately after he took over has also led to speculation within the investigating agency about the direction several politically sensitive cases are going to take. The transfer of officials in Special Units 1 and 2 and that of N. Wasan, chief of the Special Investigative Team (SIT) in the Bofors case, has already sent signals to the officials. The two intra-CBI committees which Sharma has set up to monitor and handle transfers under his supervision are being seen as a thinly veiled excuse for a large-scale reshuffle of officials investigating sensitive cases. The CBI spokesman, however, says the committees have been set up ``since there was a lot of resentment within the bureau ranks over the arbitrary nature of transfers.''Sharma has already indicated, in his meetings with senior CBI officials, that there is not enough evidence against Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam. He has also said that the audio-visual presentation prepared by the East Wing which impressed Joginder Singh could form ``part of a crime thriller'' but is not sustainable evidence in the court.

In fact, several senior officials in the CBI feel that the charge-sheets in two cases of the fodder scam are extremely weak on the conspiracy angle which involves Laloo. Says a senior official dealing with the case: ``We have a right to be cautious after what happened in the Jain Hawala case. What credibility will the Bureau have if the Laloo charge-sheet is also laughed at in the court.''

The CBI finds itself in the unenviable position of having a high conviction rate in small cases and a low conviction rate in big cases such as Jain Hawala and St Kitts. Officials attribute this to the fact that at the preliminary investigation stage hard-pressed investigative officers are rushed in to doing shoddy work. And later due to `pressure' from various quarters, the charge-sheet is normally filed in a tearing hurry. The result: Barring Shiv Bahadur Singh in 1953, no Indian politician has been convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Jain Hawala scam is a case in point. The only actual evidence after years of investigation that the CBI had were the original diaries and the agency was unable to buttress it with any further proof. According to officers close to Sharma, the new director wants to avoid a repeat performance of such disasters. As part of the new policy, charge-sheets will only be filed once a cast-iron case has been worked out. They also insist that a new coherent policy on arrests will come in to being. So far the CBI does not have a concrete policy on arrests. For example, the four JMM MPs were arrested while several accused in the housing scam were not. Officials close to Sharma point out that his recent statement on arrests being the exception rather than the rule was widely misunderstood.

With matters reaching a flash-point in the Laloo case, the CBI is in the unenviable position of asking for his arrest while being uncertain about the credibility of its own charge-sheet. Since there are several other cases to be investigated in the fodder scam, senior officials say that the method of investigation has to be ``far more vigrous''. Since any change in the team handling the case in Patna will bring the wrath of the courts on the CBI, headquarters' officials say that some additions are likely to be made to the investigating team. Even in this the CBI headquarters is uncertain and concerned about Joint-Director U.N. Biswas's reaction to the move. ``What will we do if he stands up in the court and repudiates additions to the team? The possibilities of embarrassment are endless,'' says a Joint-Director of the Special Unit.

The trouble is with the CBI's track record in dealing with political cases. Recently, Sharma told the heads of units handling sensitive cases that the cases have to be solved within a set time frame. Sniggering at this, one of the officials concerned says: ``This was rich coming from a man who made sitting on investigations a fine art''. Officials point out that in most such cases a special team is sent abroad for investigations on the eve of a Parliament session. When questions are asked the Minister can say with a straight face that investigations are being actively pursued.

Status of cases

Case: Jain Hawala

Status: Most of the accused discharged for lack of evidence. Now the CBI will have to file individual appeals against all the accused who have been discharged.

Case: Urea scam

Status: Investigations continue

Case: Bofors kickbacks case

Status: Charge-sheet lying with the Government for sanction of prosecution

Case: JMM bribery case

Status: Charge-sheets filed

Case: Lahkubhai Pathak cheating case

Status: Charge-sheets filed.

Case: Fodder scam.

Status: Charge-sheet filed in one case, several others yet to be investigated.

Case: Indian Bank case

Status: Charge-sheet yet to be filed.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.