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        The CBI, as the country's premier investigating agency, must be looking for a place to hide. For, after it intriguingly (conspiratorially) let slip the highly-connected Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, it again has covered itself with infamy in another high profile politically-sensitive case. JMM leader and former Union Minister Shibu Soren has been acquitted by the Delhi High Court which overturned a verdict by a lower court. The Delhi HC's order, among other things, read: 'The prosecution has miserably failed in bringing home the charges against the accused persons.' This is a major slap in the face for the CBI and makes it clear that its famed ability to build strong and sustainable case against accused is now a thing of a distant past.

        CBI's (willing) bungling in the Bofors bribery case is particularly galling, considering the fact the media itself had unearthed some very convincing proof against the canny Italian whose metaphorical passport to India came stamped with the imprint of Rajiv-Sonia friendship. That Mr Q is very close to the most powerful force in India now can never be gainsaid. So when the CBI fails to press charges strongly against him in an Argentinean court (the salt in the CBI wounds was when the court asked the agency pick up the legal tabs for Quattrocchi's expenses), the only logical surmise to arrive at is that it is a mere a puppet in the corrupt hands of its political masters. The CBI was deliberately lackadaisical and let its quarry to saunter back into Italy leaving its professional integrity and autonomy lying in tatters.

        But how much of it is CBI's fault and how much of is it due to the way the politicos handle it? This can be a bit of an egg-and-chicken conundrum. It can be argued that only because the CBI honchos allowed easy elbow space to the politicians that they brazenly barged in. On the other hand, it can also be held that the venal leaders, with their unlimited bundle of power and pelf, had run roughshod over this investigating agency, which was at one time considered to be on a par with the best in the world. Rather than debating why things came to such a pass, the better thing to do would be to look at the road to be taken. And when you look at the future, the most obvious thing that strikes you is to build enough firewalls around the CBI so that it remains insulated from outside pressure. And this is possible only if the political class is willing. Autonomy and independence will naturally flow if the apron strings are cut. The Supreme Court itself has recommended the creation of a national security commission at the Union level to make Central police organisations impervious to political interference. Similar panels are in place in wherever evolved governments are at work. Such a system enables to strike an acceptable synergy between the investigating agencies and the government. This is the need of the hour if the criminals are to get their just deserts. A complaisant and conniving investigating agency, in the long run, has the capacity to undermine the entire system of justice in the country. The Shibu Soren and Mr Q cases are warnings to that effect.