Ranjit Sinha

In 1996, as a DIG in the CBI under the Joint Director (East), UN Biswas, he was accused of scuttling the investigation to help protect the accused, Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Fodder Scam case. UN Biswas was the chief investigator into the case, whose progress was being monitored by the Patna High Court, and was asked by the court to file a report on the case. The original harsh report by Biswas was swapped with a toned down one authored by Sinha by the then Director CBI, Joginder Singh and submitted to the court. When the court asked why the submitted report did not carry details of the original charges, Biswas admitted before the court that the report had been changed by the CBI Director and that the original report was more damaging. The court indicted the CBI and ordered that Sinha be removed from the case. Later, Sinha, Biswas and other CBI officers apologized to the Privilege Committee Council of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, which decided to drop a privilege proceedings against them for lodging a complaint against them to the High Court. Earlier, his father-in-law as the Director General Vigilance was accused of scuttling initial investigations into the Fodder Scam but the accusations could not be substantiated. Sinha was then posted to Bihar Bhawan in New Delhi against a specially created post by Lalu Yadav.[4][5][6][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]

After taking over as the CBI Director, he transferred out four crucial officers investigating the Fodder Scam after obtaining consent of the Jharkhand High Court, but the orders were later cancelled by the Supreme Court of India following filing of a PIL.[6][28]

As the head of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Sinha objected to Mamata Banerjee continuing to be provided protection by the RPF commandos, even after she quit as the Railway minister and became the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Banerjee did not take to these objections kindly and got Sinha replaced as the RPF head in May 2011. He was posted in September 2011 as the Director General of the ITBP.[8]

He admitted to the controversy, stating:

First of all I completed my tenure in the RPF on 19 May 2011 and Mamata Banerjee became West Bengal chief minister on 20 May 2011. So I remained in the RPF till Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister. But I had my share of problems. Mamata wanted Bangla to be one of the languages for the exam for recruitment the RPF constables. She didn’t like when I said according to rules only Hindi and English are recognised languages for the exam. Besides, she employed RPF guards for her security during election campaign in West Bengal. I was ticked by the MHA as it was not part of the RPF mandate. I showed the temerity to tell her that also.[29]

April 2013, on the behest of the Supreme Court of India, as the CBI director, he submitted an affidavit stating that the draft investigative report on the Indian coal allocation scam was vetted by the Law minister Ashwani Kumar before it was submitted to the court.[30] There was widespread outrage in India on this issue as it undermined the autonomy of the CBI. Observing this the Supreme Court scathingly criticized the UPA government, for its meddling with the report, and the CBI, for behaving like a caged parrot that speaks in its master's voice.[31] Sinha has confirmed the comments of the Supreme Court as being correct.[32][33][34][35][36][37]

As a fallout, Ashwani Kumar was sacked as the Law minister. On 6 May 2013, the Supreme Court asked the government to bring a law before 10 July 2013 to insulate the CBI from external influence and intrusion. Hurriedly, the government set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) under the Finance minister P. Chidambaram to work on the details for implementing the court's order. Sinha appreciated the court's order and stated that he had become a catalyst of sorts in making CBI autonomous.[38][39] He also said that it is a lifetime opportunity for him to try to improve the working of the CBI.[29]

In 2013, the CBI busted a cash-for-posts scandal in the Indian Railways that led to the resignation of Pawan Kumar Bansal.[40] However, it was also reported that Sinha had held a grudge against Mahesh Kumar, and ordered his phone to be tapped that led to the case being busted.[41][42]

Sinha appreciated the work by his sleuths stating that they just had the slightest of leads and were able to crack the case.[43] Later, Sinha declared that there was no evidence linking the minister to the scam,[44][45] which was protested against by the BJP.[46] Sinha ordered a fresh review of all high-level appointments and high-value contracts during the tenures of railway ministers from Mamata Banerjee to Pawan Kumar Bansal.[47]

The railway police association accused Sinha of having a grudge against all railway officials who had complained against him to the Central Vigilance Commission regarding his corrupt ways when he was the Director General of the Railway Protection Force. This was however, refuted by the CBI.[48]

Talking about the charges by the railway police association, he has defended himself by stating:

I had taken on vested interest in the RPF. They came up with a booklet leveling all sorts of allegations against me but the union home ministry didn’t find anything against me. I raised objections on retired officials serving in the association. One of my subordinates also became part of the problem and circulated lots of rubbish about me.[29]

He is seen to be close to Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo, who kept the post of the Director General of the Railway Protection Force unfilled for three months till Sinha was appointed to the post.[4]

He also accepted that he is friends with Yadav, stating that Lalu was his boss both in the state of Bihar and the Indian Railways and hence, they have good interpersonal relations.[29]

He has defended himself stating:

I had asked the CBI headquarter to post me outside of Patna. Being a Bihar cadre officer I didn’t want to get associated with fodder scam probe. But nobody listened to me. It was very confusing time. The centre was weak and Lalu was a powerful regional satrap. Bihar was totally divided on the caste lines. I was made a villain by my powerful enemies in the state despite the monitoring bench of the Patna high court not even once making an adverse remark against me. I still believe things went little overboard during the investigation in the fodder scam due to some seniors who assiduously cultivated larger than life image.[29]