CBI conducts manpower review in Bengal to identify areas requiring more staff

CBI conducts manpower review in Bengal to identify areas requiring more staffMay 11, 2023Kolkata, May 11 (IANS) In the backdrop of increasing cases in West Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was conducting a review of its manpower in the state and identify areas where additional staff is required.Sources said that currently two units of CBI are operational in West Bengal, the first being the anti-corruption wing (ACB), which is conducting the probes in different alleged financial scams in areas of recruitment in state-run schools, cattle smuggling and coal smuggling, among others. The ACB operates from CBI’s Nizam Palace in central Kolkata.The second unit of CBI is that of the special crime branch (SCB), which is handling the post-poll violence cases in West Bengal, and it operates from the agency’s office at Central Government Office (CGO) complex at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata.Sources said that during the recent visit of CBI’s additional director Ajay Bhatnagar to Kolkata, the agency’s officials highlighted the problem of manpower crunch at its Kolkata offices, especially in ACB in the backdrop of the rising number of cases.Sources said that Bhatnagar at that point of time assured that officers from other states will be deputed to West Bengal shortly to speed the process of investigation. In view of that the current manpower review is on to identify the areas where additional manpower is required and also the rank- basis requirements in those areas.Preliminary estimates in the review suggest that the requirement of additional manpower is about 100 in the ranks of deputy superintendent, inspector and sub-inspectors. It is learnt that Bhatnagar has assured his junior colleagues with some immediate reinforcements and the remaining will be done on the basis of the requirements as per the manpower review.Recently, CBI had faced the wrath of the judges in a number of cases over their slow pace investigation in different cases, especially the one related to a scam on recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff. In fact, the CBI teams investigating the scam had also been insisting on addition in manpower considering that the names of more influential persons are surfacing during the course of investigation.–IANSsrc/dpb