Examine the circumstances under which investigation of a case can be transferred from a State agency to the CBI. Illustrate with a recent example.

"Police" and "public order" are State subjects (Entries 1–2, List II), and the CBI has no independent statute — it functions under the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946. Hence a State case reaches the CBI only through defined consent-based or judicial routes.

Route 1: State consent (the ordinary route)

• Section 6, DSPE Act bars CBI from exercising powers in a State without that State's consent; Section 5 requires a Central notification extending its jurisdiction [1].
• General consent given in advance allows routine CBI action; a specific State reference (usually a Cabinet decision) covers individual cases [3].
• Government said in Parliament that CBI may take over an FIR registered with local police with the State's consent plus Central notification, or on directions of a Constitutional Court [3].
• The route has frayed: about ten States, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala, have withdrawn general consent, making case-by-case consent the norm [3].

Route 2: Judicial direction (consent not needed)

• In State of West Bengal v. Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (2010), a Constitution Bench held that the Supreme Court under Article 32 and High Courts under Article 226 may direct a CBI probe even without State consent, without offending federalism or separation of powers [2].
• The Court cautioned this power be used sparingly and in exceptional situations — where the State agency's impartiality is doubted, influential persons or the police themselves are implicated, or the citizen's right to a fair investigation under Article 21 is at stake [2].

Illustration: Karur stampede (2025)

• At a TVK rally at Karur on 27 September 2025, a crowd crush killed at least 41 people [4].
• The Supreme Court set aside the Madras High Court's SIT arrangement, ordered a CBI probe, and appointed a three-member panel headed by former Justice Ajay Rastogi to supervise it [4].

Transfer thus balances federal autonomy against the citizen's right to a credible probe. The lasting fix is neither routine centralisation nor blanket consent withdrawal, but a statutory CBI law with transparent transfer criteria and stronger State investigative capacity — securing both cooperative federalism and Article 21's promise of fair justice.