This decline in the institution's (CBI's) credibility, however, seems to have commenced in the aftermath of the declaration of emergency in June 1975. As happened with several other institutions then, the CBI was also 'captured' by giving the then director an extension of tenure and hence getting him in alignment with the PMO.

It was under the directions of the PMO that cases were booked and intimidatory tactics commenced against persons who raised their voice against the establishment. A major landmark in the politicization of the CBI was during the tenure of Indira Gandhi as PM. It was found that under the direct instructions of D. Sen, the then director of the CBI, the houses of four officers of the industry ministry who were collecting material for answering a question in Parliament on the functioning of Maruti, were raided by sleuths of the agency. The Parliament, after the Shah Commission . . .