In the past, whenever a major scam surfaces in any state or at the Centre, the opposition parties used to demand for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the premier central agency to probe corruption in high places.
But more often than not, the CBI has earned the notoriety of being a tool in the hands of the powers-that-be at the Centre to take harass the political rivals.
Nevertheless, the CBI brought out several high profile cases like coal scam, mining scam, fodder scam, Commonwealth Games scam, 2G scam etc.
Though the CBI has failed to prove the allegations in many cases, for obvious reasons it could also see the arrest of several high profile politicians like Sasikala, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Madhu Koda etc. and the people are able to know about the corruption involved in these cases only because of the CBI.
However, with issue of two top CBI officials filing cases against each other surfacing now, the credibility of the CBI has come into question.
As the two officials washed their dirty linen in public, It was amply clear to the public that the CBI was used by the big people in power to politically target the rivals and the CBI officials, too, indulge in huge corruption to settle cases of big people.
Ironically, media houses, which had showered praises on the CBI when it did witch-hunting of political rivals like YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy under the instructions of then Delhi bosses, are now finding fault with the same CBI after their murky dealings got exposed.
Both Eenadu and Andhra Jyothy had the same banner headline: Chee. BI, indicating that the investigating agency has thoroughly degraded itself.
Andhra Jyothy went on to defend TDP Rajya Sabha member C M Ramesh, whose name figured in the complaint lodged against CBI officer Rakesh Asthana.
“How can this yellow media come to the conclusion that Ramesh had no role in the murky affairs of the CBI? The same agency did not conduct any raids on TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, despite the court orders and waited till he got the stay orders,” YSRC MP V Vijay Sai Reddy tweeted.