CBI refuses to reveal details of ‘action’ taken against Mallya

Sunday Guardian: New Delhi: Sunday, September 30, 2018.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has refused to share details of the action it has taken against fugitive Vijay Mallya.

The agency was responding to an RTI application filed by this correspondent.

The CBI is in the eye of a storm for changing the lookout circular that it had issued in 2015 against Vijay Mallya, from “detain” to “inform”.

The agency’s refusal to respond to seemingly harmless questions has raised further questions as to whether the agency was working under pressure to go soft on Mallya.

In the RTI application, filed with the CBI, this correspondent had asked the agency to share details of the lookout notice issued by the agency, including file notings against Vijay Mallya in October 2015, details of the second lookout notice issued in November 2015 and the details of the correspondence between the CBI and other agencies in the same period, calling for detaining Vijay Mallya.

However, it its response, the agency said that since it is exempted from the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, it cannot disclose the information sought.

Despite a September 2017 Delhi High Court judgment, that had ruled that the CBI cannot claim absolute exemption from disclosing information pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights violations, the CBI has been repeatedly denying information to even innocuous questions, citing Section 24 of the RTI Act, which says that its provisions will not apply on intelligence and security organisations. The CBI was included in the list by the erstwhile UPA government, a step that was taken—according to officers within the agency—to keep “dirty secrets” of the agency from coming out in public. Commenting on the CBI’s reluctance to share information regarding what action the agency has taken against Mallya, a retired IPS officer, who has served at the level of additional director with the agency, said that the CBI’s reluctance was “childish” and “self-incriminating”.

“The information that was sought through the RTI in no way hampers the investigation or prejudices the case in any way for any party. The CBI should have readily shared the information as it would have cleared the air as to who was the officer responsible for downgrading the lookout circular from ‘detail’ to ‘inform’,” the officer said.

Earlier, on 12 September, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had tweeted that the lookout order against Mallya was modified by the CBI on the orders of someone from the Ministry of Finance.