Central Bureau of Investigation

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is India's federal investigative agency, established in 1963 under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, and tracing its origins to a Special Police Establishment set up in 1941 to investigate wartime bribery and corruption. It operates under the Department of Personnel and Training and is headquartered in New Delhi; Praveen Sood has led it since 25 May 2023 and received a second one-year extension in May 2026. The Central Vigilance Commission reported 7,229 CBI corruption trials pending at the end of 2025 and a conviction rate of 71.71% in 2025. The CBI was allocated Rs 1,104.98 crore in the 2026-27 Union Budget. In the linked stories, courts have directed it to take over or re-investigate cases, including an Allahabad High Court order in August 2026 for a probe into a police encounter in Shravasti and a Punjab case referred by the High Court. In the 2012 Sowjanya case, a CBI special court acquitted the sole accused in June 2023 and the Supreme Court held in 2026 that the CBI probe had failed to inspire confidence and ordered a fresh investigation. In Manipur, 21 charge sheets had been filed in 31 cases transferred to it.