NEW DELHI: With several states withdrawing 'general consent' (GC) to the CBI to probe cases, the premier investigative agency is facing difficulties in cracking bank fraud cases. The CBI has not been able to register around 100 cases of high value bank frauds in last few years because of the withdrawal of consent by many states between 2015 and 2020, a statement issued by the agency revealed.
"As per Section 6 of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, under which the CBI has been established, this agency can move for a probe or conducting raids in connection with a registered case only with the consent of the state government concerned. So, when certain states withdrew their general consent, the agency could not register those cases," said a CBI source.
Jitendra Singh, Minister of State of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, had recently admitted in the Rajya Sabha that the eight states - Mizoram, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand and Punjab - have withdrawn the General Consent. Barring Mizoram, all are non-BJP ruled states.
Mizoram was the first state to withdraw the ‘General Consent’ for CBI probe in 2015 followed by West Bengal in 2018, Chhattisgarh in 2019 and the rest in 2020.