The central bureau of investigation (CBI) is not an independent probe agency, as it was supposed to be. It very much wishes to remain a handmaiden of the ruling dispensation. That is what the agency’s chief, Ranjit Sinha, admitted before the supreme court in an affidavit on Friday.

The CBI director submitted before the apex court that the agency's status report on coal allocation scam was "shared" with law minister Ashwani Kumar "as desired by him" and that senior officials of PMO and coal ministry had also seen it.”

The affidavit said, "I submit that the draft (status report) of the same was shared with the law minister as desired by him prior to its submission before the supreme court...  it was also shared with one joint secretary level officer each of prime minister's office and ministry of coal as desired by them".

Ashwani Kumar and company might have “desired” more than sharing the report, for example, diluting parts that go against prime minister Manmohan Singh, who oversaw the ministry when the coal scam took place. Will there be another affidavit that will admit something more? Because even this one has come after CBI counsel had told the apex court in the last hearing that the report was not shared with the government. (Also, Sinha met PMO minister V Narayansamy and has not acknowledged it in the affidavit.)

But, in any case, the sharing itself is no less serious: it means the probe agency was revealing its cards before the suspects so that they can fine-tune their legal response accordingly. Apparently, even this much has been admitted because and the apex court pointedly asked for facts on an affidavit and there are records of the meeting.

Here, there are two parties that have let people down. One of course is the UPA government. Among the series of corruption scandals, here is one which the Congress cannot blame on some ally; indeed the PM himself is in the dock. The opposition has demanded his resignation, saying he has lost the moral ground to lead the government.

The second party is of course the CBI. Its chief is not duty-bound to fulfill “desires” of ministers. He has been granted a fixed term of two years so that he does not have to bend before any master, and yet following in the footsteps of his predecessors he, too, would not mind fulfilling the “desires” of his political masters, keeping future career prospects in mind.