Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram with CBI Director Ranjit Sinha during the Central Bureau of Investigation’s International Conference on “Evolving Common Strategies to Combat Corruption and Crime” in New Delhi

The CBI is neither "a caged bird nor the Congress Bureau of Investigation", said Finance Minister P Chidambaram today, rejecting allegations that the country's premier investigating agency is impeded by an interfering government to protect its interests."The CBI pretends to be a helpless victim when it pleads for more autonomy," the Finance Minister said.His comments come just a day after the Prime Minister warned the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI and other police agencies not to sit in judgement over policy-making, which he described as a complex process. The PM also said that investigators should not equate poor judgement with criminal misconduct. (Read) The remarks by the PM and the Finance Minister come as the government is enveloped in controversy over the CBI's investigation into alleged corruption in the allocation of coal licenses, a scandal that has been dubbed "Coal-gate."The CBI was described as a "caged parrot" by the Supreme Court earlier this year when its top officials confessed that officials in the government had vetted a report meant for judges. That report was on the CBI's investigation into how and why coal licenses were given at under-valued rates without a transparent bidding process.

The alleged scam, worth Rs 1.86 lakh crore according to the national auditor, has become the latest in a glut of financial scandals to envelope the government just as the Congress gets ready to ask voters for a third term in power.The opposition has been aggressively demanding the PM's resignation over Coal-gate because for some of the years under scrutiny, he held direct charge of the Coal Ministry.