Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Sunday slammed the CBI for "indiscriminately targeting" some of the bankers, saying the agency has received "ultimate certificate" on its action from Union minister Arun Jaitley, who had criticised it.
In a series of tweets, the former finance and home minister said he was glad that Jaitley's conscience and legal acumen have finally stirred to condemn the "indiscriminate targeting of eminent bankers", in cases where the allegations are about thousands of crores of rupees.
"The CBI has received the ultimate certificate from the one who has the best ring-side seat, the Finance Minister (on leave): 'Adventurism and megalomania have overtaken investigators'!," he said.
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Chidambaram said the government was in slumber when there was "indiscriminate targeting" of distinguished IAS officers and others, in cases where the allegations are about small sums of money, in an apparent reference to the Aircel-Maxis case in which a number of IAS officers have been named in the chargesheet.
Chidambaram has also been named as accused by the CBI in the case.
"'What cause are we serving or actually hurting?' asks the FM. He knows the answer. The cause of justice," he said.
The CBI is also probing the alleged role of Chidambaram as finance minister in INX media case and had last week sought the sanction of the central government to prosecute him.
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Jaitley has criticised the CBI for planning to question eminent bankers like K V Kamath in the Chanda Kochhar case of alleged cheating and fraud in the ICICI-Videocon loan case.
Jaitley, in a write-up on Facebook, had slammed the CBI for naming the "who's who of the banking industry" without concentrating on the "bull's eye" in the case.
He had written a day after the agency filed an FIR against Kochhar and others in the ICICI case: "There is a fundamental difference between investigative adventurism and professional investigation."
Officer transferred
Meanwhile, the CBI transferred the investigating officer in the ICICI Bank case as its "discreet inquiry" suggested his role in leaking information related to searches, officials said Sunday.
Superintendent of Police Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra was transferred to Ranchi, a day after filing the FIR in the case against former ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak and Videocon group MD Venugopal Dhoot on January 22, they said.
The agency had carried out searches at multiple locations after the charge of the case was given to new Investigating officer Mohit Gupta, they said.
Justifying the transfer, the CBI pinned the blame on Mishra for keeping the preliminary enquiry pending without any reasons, they said.
The officials said after review some time ago, the PE wad sped up and was converted into a regular case.
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Immediately after the registration of the case, the searches were proposed, they said.
However, it was suspected that there was a possibility of information regarding searches being leaked, the officials claimed.
"A discreet inquiry was conducted and role of Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra was strongly suspected. Hence he has been transferred pending detailed inquiry in the matter, being serious," he said.
PTI
