KOCHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation, the prime investigation agency in India, is struggling to cope with the work pressure owing to shortage of hands. At a time when it has been entrusted with investigation into many sensational cases, the agency does not have enough officials to deal with them.According to latest figures, there is a shortage of 1,162 officials including the executive rank officials, law officers, technical officers and support staff as on August 2011. “A major shortage was noted in the executive ranks. We need about 815 officials including Joint Director, SP, DySP, Inspector and constables. The sanctioned strength in the executive rank is 4,504 where as only 3,689 vacancies were filled so far, sources said.“Recently more and more cases are being handed over to the CBI by the government, the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Most of them are complicated and require in-depth investigation. All investigating and supervisory vacancies in the CBI should be filled up on a priority basis; otherwise there will be delay in the investigation of sensational cases,” former CBI director D R Karthikeyaan said.At the moment the agency needs 131 DySPs, 206 Inspectors, 131 Sub-Inspectors and 253 constables. While the sanctioned strength of SPs is 100, as many as 38 posts are vacant. In Chennai and Kochi units of Anti-Corruption Bureau, a couple of SI posts are vacant. In Chennai six posts are vacant, while in Kochi two posts are to be filled.The three Special Crimes Bureaus under Chennai zone, which have been handling major crimes in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, are also facing shortage of hands. They have been dealing with sensational homicides, kidnapping and crimes by mafias. In Kochi, the sanctioned posts of ASP and SI are still vacant.“Because of the huge number of cases, we are under tremendous pressure. When a case is registered, the probe should be completed and final report prepared in one year. There should be a 5-member team for investigating a case. But due to shortage, generally it does not happen. It will affect the quality of investigation,” highly-placed sources said.In February 2011 the CBI informed the Kerala High Court that it was unwilling to take up the investigation into a suspicious death case, citing shortage of hands. “Presently the agency does not have the manpower and infrastructure to take over the investigation of the case,” the CBI counsel told the court.According to CBI statistics, the agency has registered 565 cases in 2011. Recently, the Kerala High Court has handed over many cases, including Saseendran murder case, lottery case, suspicious death of Sreerajan Unnithan of Pathanamtitta and the Kasarkode Police firing case to CBI.
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