A CBI DIARY NOTE

From 1977 to 1985 I worked for the C B I Kerala Branch. The jurisdiction of the Agency was the whole of Kerala State and Lakshadweep. The Branch was having Investigation experts with impeccable integrity and we were having quite a good number of cases from central Government Establishments, Public sector Undertakings etc. Besides Investigation task I was in charge of the HQ Administration also. I was getting number of complaints from my home town Calicut alleging corrupt practices in the recruitment to Armed Forces. The allegations were centering on the Branch Recruitment Officials and a series of touts and the daily newspapers were religiously publicizing instances of bribery and unhealthy practices in the recruitment field. Number of intermediaries was mushrooming and they were collecting hefty sums from the aspirants but absolutely no evidence the correspondents could adduce linking the touts with the public servants. Since the Branch was the Anti Corruption Wing of the CBI, dealing with Public Servants only, it was beyond the jurisdiction of the branch to proceed against private individuals. The principal tout was a person having high links with the District Executives and political bigwigs.

Our Branch Head (Retired as D.G.P from UP State) could somehow convince the Head Office the need to proceed against the private tout. I registered a case against the intermediary who was a small scale industrialist from the locality and obtained a warrant of search also. We found the office of the tout Mr. Venugopal was crowded with the aspirants and their parents. There was a security guard also to control the candidates. Our enquiry revealed that Sri Venugopal employed many sub agents for canvassing candidates across the districts and they were brought to the office of the Mr. Venugopal for screening their credentials and verifying their physical aptitude. Only the eligible candidates were preliminary selected and their documents and certificates were retained by the main agent. The bribe amounts were collected from them and then the aspirants were brought in a van along with the testimonials in the late hours of the evening to the residence of the Branch Recruiting Officer who was in the rank of a Lt. Col. The final selection process was done there and the middleman used to bring those candidates who are eligible to be recruited and collect money from such persons only to avoid any complaints. These candidates screened incognito were summoned by the BRO to the office and such screened persons were finally recruited by the team headed by him. Complaints started flowing only when the middlemen started collecting money indiscriminately from the ineligible candidates as well and they were not getting recruited or getting the money back from the agents.

Two officers and I entered the cabin of Mr. Venugopal where he was busy in the scrutiny of the educational qualification certificates of candidates and a retired Armed Force person taking physical measurement of the job seekers. On seeing us he was asking us to show our token card to verify whether we are breaking the allotted turn. We sat in front of him pulling chairs and were not talking leaving everything to him to build up. Our explosive silence and the smell of a friendly hostility suffocated him and gradually he stood up and asked ‘Are you from CBI?’ I do not know how he identified us correctly. He also showed his eagerness to stop our interference by offering an attractive amount. The cash, certificates and other testimonials of candidates, diary notes of Mr. Venugopal and other incriminating evidences etc were seized. We got certain documents to connect the active involvement of the Lt. Col and his residence was also searched on the same day evening. This was followed by searches in other places in Kerala and Karnataka on the next day. The news papers carried the stories.

The investigation disclosed pathetic stories of young aspirants who borrowed money from pawn brokers, arranged amount by selling the gold ornaments of their wives, mothers etc, and obtained funds by mortgaging or disposing off the land and house. Few persons left their villages to places unknown and there was a case of suicide as well. The touts were meeting the requirements of the derailed bureaucrat including getting his vehicles repaired, delivering the daily home needs, arranging building materials and man power for his house under construction besides cash partition. All came to an end.

The new set of officers took charge of the Recruiting Branch. Mr. Venugopal was prosecuted and sent to the jail. General Court Martial proceedings were carried against the Army Officer. In the Court an angry and desperate job seeker met me after tendering his evidence. He said. ‘The real enemies are not our neighboring countries. These are the enemies. May God have mercy on them, because we won’t.