Central Bureau of Investigation

The Central Bureau of Investigation, commonly known as the CBI, is India's premier federal investigative agency, tracing its origin to the Special Police Establishment created in 1941 to investigate wartime corruption and formally constituted under its current name in 1963 pursuant to the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act of 1946. Its jurisdiction, expanded in 1965, covers breaches of central government laws, corruption by central government employees under India's Prevention of Corruption Act, multi state organized crime, and cases with an international or multi agency dimension, alongside matters specifically referred to it by India's courts. Because policing is ordinarily a state responsibility under India's constitution, the CBI generally requires a state government's consent before investigating within that state's territory, though India's courts can order a CBI investigation without that consent in exceptional circumstances, a tension that has made the CBI's independence and jurisdiction a recurring subject of political and legal debate. Headquartered in New Delhi, the CBI also serves as India's official liaison with Interpol and operates under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions rather than a conventional police ministry.