The Madras High Court recently observed that the working culture of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has deteriorated to the point where it faces widespread public criticism over biased investigations..A Bench of Justice KK Ramakrishnan proceeded to issue a slew of directions to restore public faith in the CBI. “Nowadays the working culture of the CBI has reduced to the level of being criticized by everyone for their lopsided investigation … … CBI officers think they have sky high powers and no one can question them. Hence, people feel their working culture is plummeting down and this Court also finds the said allegations have some reason and, this Court in order to restore the trust of the people over the CBI, is inclined to give the following suggestions to the director of CBI to have a relook and revamp their programme of investigation to regain the original image in the vision of the people of India," the Court said, in its April 28 ruling. Among other directions, the Court has called for the CBI to appoint a legal team to advice it on the suitability of registering a case, and to avoid registering unnecessary cases..CBI officers think they have sky high powers and no one can question them...Madras High Court.The directions issued by the Court include the following:(i) The Director of the CBI shall meticulously supervise the array of the accused in the FIR and final report;(ii) The Director shall consciously supervise the progress of the investigation constantly watching the collection of the materials and omission of the materials;(iii) The Director shall appoint a separate legal team to indoctrinate the investigating officer about the legal principles formulated by the Supreme Court time to time and ensure the suitability of the registration of the case in order to avoid registration of innocuous cases;(iv) The Director shall take appropriate measures to equip the investigating officer with the scientific advancement..The Bench issued these directions while acquitting eight individuals, including a former Chief Manager of a Tirunelveli bank, who were convicted in 2019 for allegedly defrauding the bank of ₹2 crore by sanctioning and availing loans in violation of guidelines.A trial court had earlier acquitted some of the accused and convicted the rest. The convicted persons moved appeals before the High Court. .A classical case to show the CBI conducted a shoddy investigation...Madras High Court.In its April 28 common judgment, the High Court found that the CBI's allegations against all the accused was not backed up by proper proof. "This court finds lapse in every stage and this is a classical case to show the CBI had conducted a shoddy investigation," the Court said. The High Court added that the trial court was wrong to acquit only some of the accused, when the material cited against all the accused were all were largely the same. "This court (is) inclined to accept the argument of the learned counsel for the appellants that there was unfair prosecution and investigation which resulted in miscarriage of justice," the judge observed while acquitting all the appellants. .Justice Ramakrishnan further recounted that he had come across many lapses by the CBI, while hearing CBI-related cases in recent times. He noted that the CBI was often accused of selective investigation. "In most of the cases, even though strong materials were found, the CBI deleted the high level officers and arrayed only low grade officers ... In number of cases, even they have not obtained the handwriting expert's opinion and other scientific expert's opinion ... Even in number of cases, there is corruption allegation against the officers of the CBI. In one case, one of the party in person produced the authenticated electronic evidence to prove the demand of bribe amount by a CBI Officer ... This is only the tip of the ice beg," the judge lamented..He also pointed out that the CBI has often been accused of not harnessing modern technology to efficiently investigate cases."Therefore, question of fair investigation is in peril. This has eroded the faith of people with CBI. People have more faith in the Special Investigation Department than in the Courts that the Special Investigation Officers will be honest, upright and impartial and their conduct should be pure as mother's milk. It should regain the said faith so that it does not cause any harm to the reputation attached with them," the judge said..Senior Advocate John Sathyan briefed by M/s.Veera Associates, Senior Counsel T Lajapathi Roy for M/s.Lajapathi Roy Associates, Senior Advocate V Kathirvelu and Advocate Johnny Basha, and Advocates Devasena, RM Somasundaram, and G Mohan Kumar appeared for various appellants. Special Public Prosecutor M Karunanithi appeared for the CBI..[Read Judgment]
