New Delhi, February 4
The arrest of A. Raja and two former bureaucrats by the CBI may have been dramatic but if the agency’s track record against high profile politicians is any indication, then they need not worry much.

The CBI’s disproportionate assets case, which it had registered way back in 2003, against UP Chief Minister Mayawati is going nowhere despite its claims that it has got enough evidence to chargesheet the leader. The agency has been accused of blowing hot and cold against her depending upon the directions of its political masters and an upset Supreme Court bench had angrily told the agency on September 27, 2010, that “if the CBI and Mayawati are together, let the petition go”.

The agency’s disproportionate assets (DA) case against another UP bigwig and former chief minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and his family members has also reached a virtual dead end with the Supreme Court pulling it up time and again for its repeated u-turns. At times the agency claimed to have enough material to pursue the case against the Yadav clan only to backtrack time and again, allegedly under political pressure.

When Yadav’s Samajwadi Party came to the rescue of the UPA government in 2008 after the Left withdrew its support, it was said that closing the case was part of the political deal.

Both Mulayam and Mayawati have accused the CBI of “persecuting” them on the orders of UPA government and have kept quiet ever since the prosecution appeared to lose steam.

Similarly, the infamous fodder scam, which was reportedly worth Rs 950 cr and unearthed in 1996, in Bihar had the former chief minister, Lalu Yadav, as the prime accused. But when a special CBI court acquitted Lalu in the DA case, the CBI decided not to challenge the decision, allegedly on the directions of UPA government as Lalu was an important ally.

A study of its cases against top politicians reveals that in most cases, it was pushed into action by the judiciary’s intervention. Whether it was the 2G scam or cases against Mayawati and Mulayam, it was prompted into action only after the courts took exception to its apathy.

The CBI’s flip-flops in the Bofors case, which might have brought down a government but did not see anybody being held guilty, are also fresh in memory.