'Govt didn't intervene at the right time'

Prakash Singh, a former IPS officer whose petition on reforms in police led to Supreme Court's intervention, is dismayed over the fight at the CBI's top brass. Speaking to DH's Shemin Joy about the raging fight between CBI Director Alok Verma and Additional Director Rakesh Asthana, Singh says that the image of the premier investigation agency has taken a beating and that the government didn't intervene at the right time.

Has the latest developments in the CBI affected the agency's credibility?

It is definitely affecting the credibility of the CBI. This is the premier investigating agency of the country and this kind of infighting within the CBI is viewed with a sense of consternation. There are cases registered against its own officers and charges and counter-charges levelled. It is causing a sense of acute disappointment.

This is not the first time the fight between the two have come out in the open. There have been a series of incidents. Do you think the political leadership did not intervene at the right time?

The CBI comes under the ministry of personnel. The ministry should have intervened at the right time and ensured that this controversy was resolved.

What will be your advice to the political leadership and police officers?

It will be presumptuous on my part to advice political leaders. But I will tell the police officers that this cat-fight or dog-fight, whatever you call it, should end fast.

It is lowering the prestige of the CBI. The CBI Director is given a fixed two-year tenure by the Supreme Court as it considered it necessary to insulate officers from pressures. But nothing is happening. The IPS fraternity is very dismayed that this kind of things are happening.