Key CBI Officer Handling Crucial Probes in Bengal Replaced

In the midst of the ongoing investigations on various cases of corruption in West Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has changed the Deputy Inspector General of its Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) cell which operates from the agency’s Nizam Palace office in central Kolkata, said sources.

The erstwhile DIG of ACB, Jayadevan A. has been replaced and transferred to New Delhi, sources said. He has been replaced by Pankaj Kumar Singh, considered a veteran in cracking corruption cases.

The ACB is handling all the major cases of financial irregularities in West Bengal, namely school job recruitment, municipalities’ recruitment, cattle and coal smuggling among others. The replacement comes at a time when the central agency has attracted the ire of different courts, including the Calcutta High Court for slow pace of investigation in different cases of financial irregularities in the state.

Observers feel that the replacement of the key investigating official in the state is prompted by such negative observations by the court and is aimed at adding speed to the process of investigation.

Observers also feel that often comparisons are made between the pace of activities of CBI sleuths with their counterparts in Enforcement Directorate (ED), who are conducting parallel probes in these cases though the ambit of probe of the latter is only the money-trail and money-laundering angle in the alleged scams.

All these factors seemed to have created pressure on CBI to bring more pace in the investigation and the result was change in the key investigating official in the state, said sources.