Govt okays Rs 100 crore special unit in CBI to probe financial crimes

New Delhi: In order to strengthen CBI's capabilities for probing big-ticket financial crimes, the government has approved a Centralised Technology Vertical (CTV) to provide the probe agency real time access to data warehouses for professional expertise and collection of forensic evidences at an approximate cost of Rs 100 crore.

The agency, which is investigating a number of financial fraud cases like the 2G, chit-fund and coal scams, has been demanding such a wing for fast and timely conclusion of probe, official sources said today.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as nodal authority for the CBI, has approved a proposal for the establishment of the CTV, they said.

A total of Rs 99.19 crore has also been sanctioned for it under an ongoing scheme for "establishment of technical and forensic support units", the sources said.

The idea of setting up of CTV was mooted by CBI Director Anil Sinha, who had last year asked for "real time support to investigations" with access to data warehouses and help from professionals in digital forensic analysis, forensic accounting and fraud examination.

Sinha had said the CBI investigations into complex financial crimes like 2G, coal scam, ponzi schemes, capital market scams pose multiple challenges, especially concerning money trail, recovery of proceeds of crime etc. Across multiple jurisdictions.

"The cases of ponzi schemes involve crores of victims spread across the country and huge funds running into thousands of crores. These investigations invariably require in-house cutting edge technology tools and certified professionals, which are presently lacking.

"In order to overcome these challenges, a proposal has been sent to the government to establish a Centralised Technology Vertical within CBI to provide real time support to investigations with access to data warehouses, equipped with big data analytics, data mining tools and manned by professionals in digital forensic analysis, forensic accounting and fraud examination," he had said on the CBI's Foundation Day in April.

Senior DoPT officials said the CTV will help the agency in probing complex crimes with the help of modern tools. At present, the CBI takes help of officers from other services like Indian Revenue Service, besides independent experts and professionals to investigate financial crimes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a conference on asset recovery in November last, had also said that a "Centralised Technology Vertical to focus on combating new age crimes like cyber crime, is also being planned" by the government.