New Delhi: It might be a victory for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the Supreme Court reinstated CBI chief Alok Verma on Tuesday after he was divested of his powers and sent on indefinite leave by the government.

But the CBI vs CBI controversy has damaged the reputation of the institution after two of its top officers got embroiled in a cold war. Data shows that the institution has been struggling ever since the in-house feud.

Also read: CBI vs CBI: Director Alok Verma to testify before CVC today

The data, which is compiled by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), regarding cases, charge sheets and convictions, reveal poor performance by the investigative institution in the past two years.

The CBI’s performance kept on deteriorating year after year as the two officers were busy levelling allegations against each other.

While Verma overlooked all the cases, Asthana was responsible for special crime cases. Some cases were also pending due to the tussle between Verma and Asthana.

Investigations in cases such as that of Vijay Mallya, the IRCTC scam where Lalu Yadav was involved, were neglected; which later became points of contention between the two top officers.

Registration of cases
 

From convictions to charge sheets, and even registration of cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the CBI has witnessed a downward trend. According to the data compiled by the DoPT, the CBI, which on an average used to register 340-440 cases of corruption against government officials per year, registered a total of 206 cases in 2018. In 2016 and 2017, the CBI registered 440 and 338 cases respectively, under the PC Act.

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Charge sheets
 

Due to the tussle between CBI chief Verma and his deputy Asthana, the CBI failed to file charge sheets in cases. In 2016 and 2017, the CBI filed 168 and 272 charge sheets respectively; but in 2018, the agency managed to file only 48 charge sheets. However, this figure might increase as the CBI takes 90 days to file a charge sheet.

Also read: After Alok Verma took over as chief, CBI's conviction rate fell by over 20%

Convictions
 

The CBI, which registers 650 cases on an average every year, had a conviction rate of almost 70% in 2014. According to the data compiled by the DoPT and accessed by MyNation, there has been a dip of 20% in a conviction in corruption cases ever since Verma took over. Owing to the ongoing tussle, until November 2018, a total of 342 cases have seen a conviction. The figure was 413 in 2017.