The Jharkhand government has withdrawn the general consent accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to operate within the state which now essentially means that the central agency will have to seek prior permission from the state to investigate any cases under its jurisdiction.

The order issued from the state home, prisons and disaster management department on Thursday read: “In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946 (25 of 1946), the Government of Jharkhand hereby withdraws the consent accorded to members of Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise the powers and jurisdiction under the said Act in the state of Jharkhand.”

A senior official of the state home department added that the order applies to the CBI, which was given a general consent to investigate cases in the state in 1996 in undivided Bihar. “The consent to operate to the CBI is usually given under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946. That stands withdrawn henceforth,” he explained.

In a similar move, the Kerala government on Wednesday scuttled powers of the CBI by withdrawing the consent for its operations through a cabinet decision. Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are a few other non-BJP-ruled states to have done so in the recent months. The states accuse the Centre of “misusing” the CBI for political vendetta.

In Jharkhand, sources in the government said that the move gained pace after the recent arrest of tribal and social activist Stan Swamy by another central agency -- the National Investigation Agency -- last month in connection with the 2017 Bhima Koregaon violence. Swamy, who was accused by the NIA of allegedly having links with Maoists, was picked by the agency in a cloak-and-dagger operation, from his residence in Ranchi on the night of October 8 and flown to Mumbai the next day and was jailed. He is still in custody even though several rights bodies across the country have protested against the arrest of the octogenarian amid the raging pandemic.

Sources further added that the current dispensation of the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance is also wary about the possible attempt to unleash CBI sleuths against ministers and MLAs here by the Narendra Modi government in the coming months in an attempt to destabilise the state government.

A senior JMM leader said: “The way the BJP vociferously campaigned about the change in government here after the bypolls isn’t just a political comment. In politics, none says anything for the sake of it but serious backdoor attempts are on by them to destabilise the government through horse-trading of MLAs. The CBI and other central agencies are always convenient tools for them to harass the state government.”

The Congress, JMM’s ally, too welcomed the move. Congress spokesperson Alok Dubey said: “The way the CBI and other central agencies have been blatantly misused by the Modi government to destabilise all those states in which the BJP is not in power is public knowledge. It’s high time that state governments rise up to the increasing threat to put checks and balance against violation of constitutional bodies. Even Raj Bhavans continue to be misused by those in power at the Centre.”