CBI Has New Boss For Financial Scams. It's Investigating His Own Brother

New Delhi: The country's premier investigating agency, the CBI, has a new boss in their department that looks at banking and security frauds. One problem: the same agency is investigating a bank scam that involves his own brother.

IPS officer Rajiv Singh of the Tripura cadre was named Joint Director in the Banking and Securities Frauds Section at the end of last month. He won the President's medal last year for his handling of the Saradha scam, a Ponzi scheme in Bengal that bankrupted lakhs of small investors. So Rajiv Singh's promotion could be considered well-deserved.

But some in the agency point out that his brother, Sanjiv Singh, is accused of swindling Allahabad Bank's branch in Ranchi of Rs 6 crore. The Singhs' family home in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand was also raided a year ago when the CBI first registered a case against him. The complaint filed by the bank said that Sanjiv Singh took a loan against assets he did not own.

Some CBI officers also allege that at that time, Rajiv Singh reached out to colleagues in the CBI who raided his family home and other locations to collect evidence against his brother. A complaint submitted to top officials the Chief Vigilance Officer claims these colleagues immediately alerted then CBI director Anil Sinha about the impropriety of such interventions. Sources say while final comments have been submitted in the brank fraud case, it is yet to be chargesheeted and Rajiv Singh's new position could interfere with progress.

Rajiv Singh was not available for comment, according to the CBI. "It is stated that Sh Rajiv Singh (Joint Director, CBI) - or the Zone/Branch he is heading - is not handling the case in question. Allegation of any interference on part of Sh Rajiv Singh in the said case is totally unfounded and incorrect. The allegations are strongly denied," said CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal to NDTV.

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However, those complaining against the appointment say that as the head of this section of financial scams, Rajiv Singh deals with bank chiefs and vigilance officers and can easily influence the case.