Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is a premier investigating police agency in India. It is an elite force playing a major role in preservation of values in public life and in ensuring the health of the national economy. It is also the nodal police agency in India, which coordinates investigation on behalf of Interpol Member countries.

Functioning under Dept. of Personnel, Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Public Grievances, Government of India.
Originally setup as Special Police Establishment (SPE) in 1941 but Formed as CBI in 1963 through The Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.

CBI Logo

History of CBI

At an early stage of World War-II, the Government of India realised that vast increase in expenditure for war efforts had provided opportunities to unscrupulous and anti-social persons, both officials and non-officials, for indulging in bribery and corruption at the cost of public and the Government. It was felt that Police and other Law Enforcement Agencies under the State Governments were not in a position to cope with the situation. An executive order was, therefore, passed by the Government of India in 1941, setting up the Special Police Establishment (SPE) under a DIG in the then Department of War with mandate to investigate cases of bribery and corruption in transactions with which War and Supply Department of the Government of India was concerned.
At the end of 1942, the activities of the SPE were extended to include cases of corruption on Railways also, presumably because the Railways were vitally concerned with movement and supply of war materials. The first legal adviser of the War Department was Rai Sahib Karam Chand Jain.
In 1943, an Ordinance was issued by the Government of India, by which a Special Police Force was constituted and vested with powers for the investigation of certain offences committed in connection with the departments of the Central Government committed anywhere in British India. As a need for a Central Government Agency to investigate cases of bribery and corruption was felt even after the end of the war, the Ordinance issued in 1943, which had lapsed on 30th September, 1946 was replaced by Delhi Special Police Establishment Ordinance of 1946. Subsequently, the same year Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 was brought into existence.
After promulgation of the Act, superintendence of SPE was transferred to the Home Department and its functions were enlarged to cover all departments of the Government of India. The jurisdiction of SPE was extended to all the Union territories and the Act provided for its extension to States with the consent of the State Government. The Headquarters of SPE was in Lahore and shifted to Delhi and the organisation was put under the charge of Director, Intelligence Bureau. However, in 1948, a post of Inspector General of Police, SPE was created and the organisation was placed under his charge.

In 1953, an Enforcement Wing was added to the SPE to deal with offences under the Import and Export Control Act.
In fact, by 1963 SPE was authorised to investigate offences under 91 different sections of Indian Penal Code and 16 other Central Acts besides offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.
A growing need was felt for a Central Police Agency at disposal of the Central Government which could investigate not only cases of bribery and corruption, but also violation of Central fiscal laws, major frauds relating to Government of India departments, etc. Therefore, the Government of India set up Central Bureau of Investigation by a resolution dated 1st April, 1963 with the following divisions:
- Investigation & Anti Corruption Division (Delhi Special Police Establishment)
- Technical Division
- Crime Records and Statistics Division
- Research Division
- Legal and General Division
- Administration Division
CBI was further strengthened by addition of an Economic Offences Wing by a Government of India Resolution dated 29th Feb., 1964. At this time, CBI had two investigation Wings;

one called the General Offences Wing which dealt with cases of bribery and corruption involving employees of Central Government/PSUs and
the other Economic Offences Wing, which dealt with cases of violation of fiscal laws.

With the passage of time, requests were made by various quarters for CBI to take up investigation even in conventional crimes like assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings, crimes committed by extremists, violation of Official Secrets Act, large scale Banks and Insurance Frauds etc. and others specific cases like Bhagalpur Blindings, Bhopal Gas Tragedy etc. Since early 1980's, constitutional courts also started referring cases to CBI for enquiry/investigation on the basis of petitions filed by the aggrieved persons in cases of murders, dowry deaths, rape etc. In view of these developments, it was decided in 1987 to have two investigation Divisions in CBI namely Anti Corruption Division and Special Crimes Division, the latter dealing with cases of conventional crimes as well as economic offences.
- Even after the establishment of Special Crimes Division, Special Cells were created to take up investigations in important & sensational cases of conventional nature, e.g., Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted in 1991 to investigate cases relating to the assassination of Shri Rajiv Gandhi, Special Investigation Cell-IV was created in 1992 to investigate cases relating to the demolition of Babri Majid in Ayodhya and Special Task Force was created in 1993 to take up investigation relating to bomb blast in Bombay. Bank Frauds and Securities Cell was created in 1992 to investigate cases related to Bank Frauds & Securities scams.
- Over a period of time, some of the work originally allotted to the CBI was transferred to other organisations. Part of the work relating to Crime Records and Statistics Division was transferred to NCRB and that relating to Research Division was transferred to BPR&D.
Due to increased work load relating to Securities Scam cases and rise in economic offences with the liberalization of Indian economy, a separate Economic Offences Wing was established in 1994 consequent to the approval of reorganization plan of the CBI. Accordingly, three investigation Divisions were created in CBI.

Anti Corruption Division - To deal with cases of corruption and fraud committed by public servants of all Central Government Departments, Central Public Sector Undertakings and Central Financial Institutions.
Economic Crimes Division - To deal with bank frauds, financial frauds, Import Export & Foreign Exchange Violations, large-scale smuggling of narcotics, antiques, cultural property and smuggling of other contraband items etc.
Special Crimes Division - To deal with cases of terrorism, bomb blasts, sensational homicides, kidnapping for ransom and crimes committed by the mafia/underworld.

Structure of CBI

The CBI is headed by a Director, an IPS officer with a rank of Director general of police.
- The current director of CBI is Praveen Sood (former DG and IGP of Karnataka state police).
The director is selected by a high-profile committee constituted under The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 as amended through The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.
- This high-profile Committee consists of:
  - Prime Minister – Chairperson
  - Leader of Opposition of Loksabha or the Leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha
  - Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court Judge recommended by the Chief Justice
Director has a two-year term which can be extended for another three years.

Officers

Director of CBI
Special Director
Additional Director
Joint Director
Deputy inspector general (DIG)
Superintendent of Police (SP)
Additional Superintendent of Police (Addl.SP)
Deputy superintendent of police (Dy.SP)

Subordinates

Inspector
Sub-Inspector (SI)
Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI)
Head constable (HC)
Constable

CBI Operations

Operation Chakra – 3

Operation CHAKRA 3 is a landmark initiative by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in collaboration with international law enforcement agencies like the FBI and INTERPOL.
This operation was launched to dismantle a sophisticated international cyber-enabled financial crime network, marks a significant milestone in the global fight against cybercrime.

Recent News

CBI has arrested 26 accused persons :-
- CBI has arrested 26 accused persons from Pune, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, following a crackdown on a major cybercrime network at 32 locations.
- During the exercise, the CBI zeroed in on 170 suspects via four call centres.
- CBI said the cybercriminals were involved in a range of illicit activities, including impersonating tech support services and approaching victims, especially in the United States, claiming that the victims’ systems had been hacked.