Jaitley targets CBI over Kochhar probe

A day after the CBI named banking doyen K V Kamath and key players of the sector for questioning in the alleged fraud case against former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday advised the investigating agency to avoid “adventurism” and concentrate only on the bull’s eye.

Jaitley, who is undergoing treatment abroad said, “One of the reasons why our conviction rates are poor is that adventurism and megalomania overtakes our investigators and professionalism takes a back seat.”

He went on to say “sitting thousands of kilometers away, when I read the list of potential targets in the ICICI case, the thought that crossed my mind was again the same – instead of focusing primarily on the target, a journey to nowhere (or everywhere) being undertaken?”

Clearly disagreeing with CBI action in the case, Jaitley said, “If we include the entire who’s who of the banking industry — with or without evidence — what cause are we serving or actually hurting.”

He added, “my advice to our investigators — follow the advice of Arjun in the Mahabharat — just concentrate on the bullseye.”