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Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the killings in Bogtui village of West Bengal’s Birbhum district, where eight persons were burnt alive on Tuesday, hours after the murder of a Trinamool Congress panchayat leader.
The court, which had initiated a suo motu case on Wednesday, directed the CBI to submit a preliminary report on April 7, when the matter will be heard again. The court directed the state government “to extend full cooperation to CBI in carrying out the further investigation”.
Unlike the NIA, CBI cannot take suo motu cognizance of a case in a state — whether in a matter of corruption involving government officials of the Centre and PSU staff, or an incident of violent crime.
In order to take up corruption cases involving central government staff, it either needs general consent (see last question) of the state government, or specific consent on a case-to-case basis. For all other cases, whether involving corruption in the state government or an incident of crime, the state has to request an investigation by the CBI, and the Centre has to agree to the same.
In case the state does not make such a request, the CBI can take over a case based on the orders of the High Court concerned or the Supreme Court.
After a state makes a request for an inquiry by the CBI, the Centre seeks the opinion of the agency. If the CBI feels that it is not worthwhile for it to expend time and energy on the case, it may decline to take it up. In the past, the CBI has refused to take over cases citing lack of enough personnel to investigate, and saying it is overburdened.
In 2015, the agency had told the Supreme Court that it could not take any more Vyapam scam cases because it did not have enough staff to investigate them.
“CBI is the country’s premier investigation agency, and it is expected to probe complex and sensitive cases. It cannot probe every case that a state is willing to hand over to it,” a CBI officer said.
According to a former CBI officer, in nine out of 10 instances, the Centre seeks the opinion of the agency before accepting or refusing a case.
“In 10% of cases, the Centre directly orders the registering of a case if it suits the ruling dispensation to do so. Once, in a Northeastern state, an additional chief secretary was beaten up and the state government wanted the CBI to investigate. The agency, after a preliminary probe, refused to accept the case on the ground that it was too small an incident for the CBI to get involved, and that the state police were fully capable of carrying out the probe,” the officer said.
According to the latest Annual Report of the Central Vigilance Commission, the CBI registered 608 FIRs in 2019 and 589 FIRs in 2020.
In 2020, a total 86 cases related to demands for bribes by public servants for showing favour, and 30 cases for possession of disproportionate assets were registered.
Out of 676 cases in the year (including FIRs and Preliminary Enquiries), 107 cases were taken up on the directions of constitutional courts and 39 on requests from state governments/ Union Territories.
There are over 1,300 vacancies in the CBI. As on December 31, 2020, against a sanctioned strength of 7,273, only 5,899 officials were in position, and 1,374 posts were lying vacant.
At the end of 2020, the CBI had 1,117 cases (both FIRs and PEs) pending investigation. In 2019, this number stood at 1,239. During 2020, investigation was finalised in 693 FIRs and 105 PEs. As many as 637 cases were pending for investigation for more than one year as on December 31, 2020.
At the end of 2020, 9,757 cases were pending in various courts.
The conviction rate in corruption cases was slightly lower at 67% in 2020. In 2020, CBI registered 425 cases of corruption involving 565 government officials. It completed investigations in 429 cases (including those from previous years).
In 191 cases, trials were completed, of which 128 ended in conviction.
However, of the 655 people who stood trial in CBI cases during the year, only 260 were convicted — meaning 60% of accused were either acquitted or discharged.
Until December 31, 2020, as many as 6,497 corruption cases were pending trial in various courts. Of these, 5,193 cases (80%) had been pending for more than three years. Almost 2,000 corruption cases are pending trial for more than 10 years.
Since 2015, as many as nine states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Mizoram and Meghalaya — have withdrawn general consent to the CBI. Opposition-ruled states have alleged the CBI has become its master’s voice, and has been unfairly targeting opposition politicians.
Withdrawal of general consent means that to probe any case in these states, CBI would have to take prior permission from the state government. CBI has claimed that this has tied its hands.
In November last year, the Supreme Court expressed concern over CBI’s submission that 78% of its 150 requests for sanction to investigate cases were pending with state governments that had withdrawn consent to the CBI.
On the other hand, in as many as 177 cases involving 455 public servants, CBI had not got sanction for prosecution from the central government till the end of 2020.
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