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The Joginder Singh Chat

Good Evening Mr.Singh! What do you feel about the pressure faced by CBI now, that too with many economic offences being investigated. Can you be candid enough to admit the political interferences in many of the cases? I also want you to throw light on the arrest of former Tamilnadu minister SD Somasundaram and his subsequent let off ( after many months..!!) on the ground that CBI has not properly framed the chargesheet. Is it not a shame to a national agency like CBI? What steps you think you can take to set these things right when you yourself, the leader, are under fire and suspicion from the Patna High Court? You think you can lend credibility to your position and the CBI by continuing in the post ?

Sharma: There is no political interference or any other interference in the work of the agency. In any case I am the last person to accept any such interference because under the law the end product, that is, the final result of the investigation goes to the court. The law does not provide any supervision by any agency except the senior officials of the investigating agency.

What would you list as the ten most important cases confronting the CBI? And how close are you to a resolution in each one?

Mr Singh, the CBI only seems to seizing property, money, and arresting small fry. The best example is the Jharkhand payoffs case where some small fry are in jail, but all the big ministers -- Narasimha Rao, Sharma, Buta Singh -- are enjoying free air? Why this duplicity?

Sir, I am a student of Indian politics from Stanford. As far as my studies go, never has the CBI been in such controversy as under your tenure. Why is that so? Not a day passes when I read on Internet magazines such as Rediff about how sundry courts have pulled up the CBI for its style of functioning? What is the reason why the CBI is unable to investigate cases to its optimum level? Do you suffer from a shortage of officers? or is the quality of officers sir, not very good?

I say, please do answer my questions. Havn't been in India for a long time now, and things seem to have deteoriated since then.

What is your agenda for the agency? Do you see it ever becoming a professional organisation like the FBI? Do you think one way towards that end would be to have your own cadre of officers without -- pardon me for saying this -- IPS officers at the helm?

Sriraman: So far as political pressure is concerned I have already said there is none. Yes, a number of economic offences are being investigated. We take up the cases without regard to the status of the persons. The job of the investigating agency is to lay all the facts before the courts. It is for the courts to take a final view. So far as the performance of the agency is concerned, the overall conviction rate of the agency is over 68 percent which is one of the highest in the world. I do not wish to comment on any individual case.

Mr Singh, P V N Rao is standing trial in three cases, all being probed by the CBI. Will the CBI be able to send him to jail in any one case at least?

What would you list as the ten most important cases confronting the CBI? And how close are you to a resolution in each one?

Good evening Joginderji, I am from fiji(small nation with Indians), What is your opinion about making CBI an independent body??

Mr.Singh, didi you get my questions? Can I expect answers for them? While I apprecite that you can choose to answer any question or not and it is your prerogative, we shall definitely appreciate if you can answer these questions, since they are put to a responsible Indian Government Officer by responsible citizens who have the national interest in mind.

Since we are speaking on the Internet, I would like to ask you whether your officers are computer savvy? For instance, can your officers crack down on computer crime?

Bond: I can assure you Mr James Bond that things are not as bad as made out in India. India has a system of checks and balances if somebody does wrong, ultimately nemesis catches up with him.

What made you visit P V N Rao right after you assumed charge? And don't you think the Supreme Court was unfair in pulling you up when their own chief justice went to meet the prime minister in the middle of the night!!?

The judiciary and you have had a somewhat combative relationship -- from their side. Do you believe the courts are a hurdle in your functioning, by letting off people on bail when they deserve to be behind bars?

I say, thank for the reply. By the way, you can call me James, part of the old shool tie network, you know!

Thank you Mr. Singh for responding to my questions. It was indeed very nice of you. I also appreciate your stand on not discussing any particular cases since most of them are in the court and that you do not want to create unnecessary controversies. But can you tell us as to what ails the CBI and what has to be done to improve its credibility? what are your suggestions to revamp the operations of the agency and what do you think is the best way to make it function independent of political and other interferences?

The CBI is in the eye of the storm. Not one day goes when Indian newspapers on the net don't mention the CBI investigating one major case or the other. Could you, Sir, give us an idea of what pressure your officers are under (not political), given the complexity and magnitude of these cases?

What would you list as the ten most important cases confronting the CBI? And how close are you to a resolution in each one?

The hawala scam became a big thing, yet no progress has been made. Even the Supreme court has become silent. What is the latest on it?

Joginderji:The Indian Customs provide for access over the Net, and thus have a wide level of information from people worldwide. Does the CBI also have such a facility in this information age? If not, would you consider providing it so that those of us who wish to pass information have this channel, also?

Sharma and Chatterjee: CBI is functioning under a federal set up where consent of the state governments are required for functioning therein. In some states, though the CBI office is there it can not take up cases without the approval of the state government. It is unlike FBI which has jurisdiction over certain types of offences all over the USA. The CBI is a very professional organisation and compares with the best, may be even better than the FBI. The kind of problems which we face in India which involve crime fall into the lap of the CBI and it has creditably all those cases. The organisation has not spared any agency or anobdy who has been guilty of violating any law. I am deliberately avoiding giving details of the cases because some of them are in courts and others are in appeal in various courts.

The Supreme Court asked you 20 days ago to appoint an officer to investigate the Ramesh Kini case in Maharashtra. Nothing has been done about this so far. Do I believe the prime minister has asked you to go slow in the matter since it involves his chum Thackeray's family?

Recently, you shuffled all your top officers around, and they created a noise. Why was that so, since you were only implementing a routine? Looks like many of your officers have developed vested interests, and do not like transfers?

mr Singh, some of your answers are not clear. They read like babuspeak. This is an international audience. We need more clarity in your responses.