On Saturday, the Central Bureau of Investigation raided 14 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in connection with illegal sand mining cases. Reports emerged that the agency may investigate former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and former minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati in relation to this matter. Yadav and Prajapati had both held the mining portfolio in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet when the Samajwadi Party was in power between 2012 and 2017.
The raids came hours after the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party announced an alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections – a move that is expected to significantly damage the prospects of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the politically critical state of Uttar Pradesh. The timing of the action – based on a 2016 order of the Allahabad High Court – puts a spotlight on the use of the Central Bureau of Investigation for political ends by the party in power.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has been under a cloud ever since it was founded in 1963. In 1997, the Supreme Court tried to remedy this by placing the organisation under the control of the Central Vigilance Commission, a move that did little to help. In 2013, the same court described the agency as a “caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”, accusing it of tailoring its investigations to suit the “suggestions of government officials”. In October 2018, the Central Bureau of Investigation even raided its own offices in a case of alleged corruption against special director Rakesh Asthana, who is seen to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In response, the Union government launched a virtual coup against the Central Bureau of Investigation director, sealing his office at midnight and sending him on leave. While the action was seen as being unlawful, nearly three months later, the court is yet to reverse it.
That an investigative agency under the Union government is widely perceived to be serving not the law but the ruling party is a poor reflection on the state of democracy in India.