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It is the best of posts, it is the worst of posts. Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation. India's apex investigation agency investigating half a dozen scandals involving the country's top politicians, including former prime ministers, a chief minister, ex-chief ministers, and dozens of former federal ministers who for years broke the laws of the land, never fearing that Nemesis, and the CBI, would one day catch up with them. It did. And leading the CBI today is Joginder 'Tiger' Singh.

Many argue that Singh's primary qualification for the top slot was his being from the Karnataka cadre: the state of Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, widely perceived to be his mentor. The prime minister perhaps thought he would be able to retain some control of the CBI, given a common language. Singh got the job, and immediately hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Soon after assuming charge on July 31, he met P V Narasimha Rao, currently facing criminal charges in three cases, all being probed by the CBI. The Supreme Court was not amused, and told Singh in so many words.

As if this was not enough, Singh was again pulled up by the Supreme Court for hobnobbing with politicians under investigation. The final straw came when the Patna high court told his subordinate A N Biswas to bypass the CBI director in the animal fodder scam probe; luckily, for Singh the Supreme Court reversed the order, but with the caveat that any malfeasance on his part, and he would be ignored.

Despite his bumbling image, CBI officers who have worked with Singh warn that he is extremely shrewd, and can be ruthless. Singh's predecessor, Vijaya Rama Rao, for instance, did not initiate any action against Sukh Ram, the Congress MP and former communications minister. But Singh gave the order to search Sukh Ram's homes in Delhi and Mandi, where the CBI found a cache of Rs 36 million in unaccounted funds.

Singh has also shuffled senior CBI officers, to ensure that some of them who had become close to politicians are no longer in charge of sensitive cases. Many vested interests were upset, but 'Tiger' Singh stood by his decision, thus ensuring that investigations are not hampered by investigators getting too close to the politicians whom they are investigating.

In recent days, Singh is known to have cracked the whip on his subordinates, especially those investigating important cases. He is reported to have stood up to the prime minister, and is pushing for results. One can expect more news from 'Tiger' in the coming days.

The CBI today is engaged in cleaning the Augean stables of Indian politics. Most Indians are only too pleased and eagerly support the CBI, and Singh, in its Herculean task. Yet the pressures are intense, and the job difficult.

Will Joginder Singh be the person who forever changes the face of Indian politics, and politicians?

Find out when he appears on the Rediff Chat.