The decorated car outside the CBI headquarters in Delhi.
The officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation gave a grand send-off to Ranjit Sinha, who retired from the post of the agency's director on Tuesday.
For his journey home, his white SX4 car was decked with red rosebuds. The gesture from his colleagues was a first - no other officer had been extended such a token of appreciation in recent times.
Mr Sinha ended his two-year tenure on a bitter note - barely two weeks ago, the Supreme Court removed him from the investigation of the 2G scam. The judges had said he had tried to interfere in the probe, meeting representatives of the accused at his home. (
Read: Step Out of 2G Investigation, Says Supreme Court to CBI Chief)
The other lows involved the criticism a special court for shoddy probe in coal scam cases and sharing of status report in coal with former law minister Ashwani Kumar.
At his farewell function at the CBI headquarters, he told the officers that all his decisions were taken in the interest of the agency, reported news agency Press Trust of India. "Nobody wants to leave the organisation on such a controversial note," the PTI quoted him as saying.
Quoting South African leader Nelson Mandela, he further said, "Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."
On Monday, asked to sum up his tenure by the media, Mr Sinha had sounded peeved. "I am not going to say anything. I have done no good work. Write what you want to write. Enough dirt has been thrown upon me," he had said. (
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Today also, he referred to it, saying, "I have only seen criticism in last few weeks in media. I forgot I have done other work as well in 40 years of my career."
But there had been several highs as well, including busting of some big bribery cases that involved a Railway Board member, Chairman and Managing Director of a public sector Bank, and the Chief Executive Officer of Censor Board.
Asked if he was also planning to write a book on his experiences, Mr Sinha said, "I will do whatever I have to do."