Can An Agency Like CBI Be Trusted In SSR Case Whose Top Executives Were Once Found Involved In Corruption & Fighting Like Cats & Dogs

On 14th June 2020, the whole nation was shaken by the demise of a very young talented actor, who took his own life by hanging in his apartment in Mumbai, I do not think there is one person in India who does not know who I am referring to, yes, its Sushant Singh Rajput.

Ever since the news of his death has flooded the news channels there have been so many angles to this case. All this ambiguity is for one simple reason which is, that nobody has an answer to why he took this step? Was it an abetment to suicide? Was he really in depression? Was he drugged by his girlfriend? Did nepotism push him to this extent? 

Hence, because of all the above possibilities, there has been a major demand for a CBI inquiry in this case, since the questions have already been raised on the investigation of Mumbai police of how they have been trying to save Rhea Chakraborty from the glare, the stipulation to a CBI inquiry further increased by not only commoners but also celebrities under the tag of justice for Sushant.

Although, now when the Apex court has allowed CBI to get hold of the case it seems like a walk in the direction towards the truth, but is it? We all have very high hopes from the CBI investigation and inquiry but we must not forget the record of the Bureau which has been called a “caged parrot speaking in master’s voice” by the Honorable Supreme Court itself.

To see whether CBI is credible enough to raise our hopes to discover the truth and serve justice to Sushant Singh Rajput we must first go in-depth about the records of CBI and talk facts for a while.

CBI Controversies:

CBI has been accused of being the puppet to the Central Government since the very beginning, time and again we have seen instances where it has been proved that CBI was indeed trying to protect the ruling party and thus hiding the truth, or the investigation made by CBI was not valid enough to prove the truth or pass the judicial barriers, and in some other cases it was not efficient enough, let’s take a look at some of such cases:

Hawala Scandal:

The case was based on a 1991 arrest of Kashmiri militants that led to a raid on the hawala brokers which further revealed payments to politicians from the opposition party. However, the court ruled that there was not enough evidence against the accused and thus they were freed, the case included big names from BJP like L.K. Advani.

Priyadarshini Mattoo Case: 

In this case, a 25-year-old law student was murdered and Santosh Kumar Singh was accused of the crime but acquitted by CBI, however, later the judge called such acquittal as deliberate inaction because the accused was the son of a high-ranking officer in the IPS which was being seen as a reason for such inaction. After being embarrassed by the judgment, the CBI appointed special directors, and further the former accused was found guilty of rape and murder. 

Sohrabuddin Case: 

CBI was accused of supporting the ruling party then, that is Congress Party and thus, framing a case against former minister of Gujrat from BJP, Amit Shah by pursuing Geeta Johri who was also investigating the same case via pressurizing her to implicate him.

One of the most well-known scams in India is the 2G Spectrum, where the UPA government was accused of distributing 2G spectrum to corporations at very minimal prices via corrupt means. The CBI was seen as lethargic in the case because there were high profile names involved, Supreme Court accused CBI of its lack of showing the optimal emergency in the case, and only after monitoring the investigations of CBI, some big names were arrested in the case.

Indian Coal Allocation Scam: 

Another very popular scam, which was a political scandal against the UPA government accused of allocating coal deposits to corporations, in an inefficient manner, and thus the companies paid much lesser than the actual cost. The case was investigated by CBI and it was admitted by the CBI director in the affidavit submitted to the court that the status of the investigation report was shared with the law minister of Congress Party because it was desired by him, in result to which the Apex Court made a special CBI court and in the final verdict of the case all the allocations of such coal deposits were canceled by the Honorable Supreme Court.

It is impossible to have been a citizen of India and not know about Bhopal Gas Tragedy, in this 1984 case which is considered as one of the most catastrophic industrial disasters in the world and ended up killing thousands was investigated by CBI and the body accepted that it was asked to be lenient with the CEO Warren Anderson of Union Carbide and drop the charges.

Noida Double Murder Case: 

This 2008 case was in the limelight for several years, where a 14-year-old girl and a 45-year-old were murdered, most of you must have guessed that it is none other than Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj Banjade case. The parents of the girl murdered were held guilty for the crime, but later when they appealed to the Allahabad High Court, the court suggested that there was no sustainable proof against the parents and pointed out CBI for tampering with the evidence and instructing the witnesses.

These are just a few examples where CBI has failed to conduct a true and fair investigation. The courts have pointed out the loopholes in the functioning of CBI on various occasions and it has been in the public domain, how CBI is incompetent when it comes to delivering an unbiased investigation and judgment. 

In the light of above cases, it does not seem very practical to completely trust the investigations made by CBI in Sushant Singh Rajput’s case.

Is it too soon to trust CBI? 

On August,19,2020, the Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide case was handed over to CBI by the Apex court, since then, the Bureau has made several revelations against the Jalebi actress, Rhea Chakraborty, against whom, Sushant Singh Rajput’s parents have filed a case concerning abetment to suicide. A drug angle has also occurred in the case and everyone is very optimistic about the truth coming out.

But as we have seen in the examples of the cases quoted above, how CBI is a politically influenced investigating organization and can be used for the same purpose.

Keeping all this in mind, one cannot ignore that the CBI investigation can be a political fiasco, considering that the Bihar elections are just around the corner and Sushant Singh Rajput has a major fan following in Bihar can be used as a means of gaining votes for the ruling party in the state, which is supported by BJP in the center and the two have been seen making strong alliances in the past.

Thus, it is too early to say whether CBI is working in the direction of justice or whether it is all just a means to raise votes by making the accused a scapegoat and not putting in the efforts to find out what is the true story behind the 34-year-old actor’s suicide.

The political uproot has been scarred by injustice

The skepticism about CBI cannot be ruled out in any circumstances, thus, it is necessary to appoint a monitoring agency for its investigation which has been demanded on several occasions for a stern and confirmed investigation.

The whole nation at the end of the day wants justice for the young talented actor who for unknown reasons embraced his death by the means of suicide and is waiting for the truth to prevail as soon as possible.