The interns can be graduates, post-graduates and research assistants & will be allowed to work with CBI for a six to eight-week period.

New Delhi: For the first time in the country, graduates, post-graduates and research assistants can now work as interns with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a period of six to eight weeks.

The interns will be trained in “collation of data, information and even investigative techniques”.

The CBI announced the programme last week, becoming the first federal agency in the country to hold such a course. Until now, only American intelligence agencies such as the FBI and CIA, have been holding similar volunteer internship programmes.

According to the CBI, these interns will be attached within the agency and would be expected to assist and add to the process of “analysis within”.

The interns will be expected to go that through “empirical collection and collation of in-house data and other information”

A total of 30 interns will be shortlisted for different CBI branches at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow and Chandigarh by a committee that will go through the applications.

The eligibility to apply for the internship is that the applicant has to be a citizen of India, a graduate or a post-graduate or a research student at a reputed university within India.

Students who have a specialisation in Law, Data Analysis, Forensic Science, Criminology, Management, Economics and Commerce, will be given preference during the selection process.

Once selected, the CBI will provide the interns with all necessary material for their work but they will not be paid and will have to arrange for their stay and travel.

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Interns to sign ‘No disclosure certificates’

The selected interns will be asked to sign a ‘No Disclosure Certificate’ as they may come across “secret information” while working with investigators on a specific project.

“It is a sensitive area of work where a lot of things need to be kept a secret, which is why the interns will be made to sign this certificate on their joining,” a CBI officer said.

“They will be expected to not disclose anything confidential that they may become privy to while working with investigators,” the officer added.

“The interns will be provided all the help in carrying out research on topics. We will provide them with data, study material, and will also give them an in-depth exposure on the investigation as well as the prosecution process,” the officer said.

“They will also get exposure on how the court proceedings are done and the agency’s role in the process.”

Does not guarantee a job but will ‘inspire youth to give UPSC’

The CBI does not promise a job following the course but says it will encourage “young minds to sit for the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) exams and join the agency”.

“It will not only encourage them to sit for the UPSC exams but also increase the value of their resume,” the officer said. “If they go anywhere for job placement, having worked with the CBI, they will definitely get weightage over other candidates.”

A source in the CBI, however, said that some of the students may also be used by the agency for data analysis and collection later but not as employees.

“The recruitment in the CBI is done according to government norms. If one has to join the CBI, then it is either through the SSC (Staff Selection Commission) or the UPSC,” the officer quoted above said. “For the gazetted posts, the recruitment is done through UPSC and for non-gazetted posts, it is through the SSC.”

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Agency detects fraud

The CBI has noticed that after the announcement of the internship, a few persons, allegedly using identities of senior CBI officers, had duped students promising them an internship and a job.

“We have registered three separate cases in this regard and have also arrested the men,” the CBI officer quoted above said.

“The CBI will not be responsible in any way for the amount paid by the individuals to any individual or group of individuals/agencies purporting to be representing CBI or giving false information on their web sites,” a statement issued by the agency said.

“Anyone dealing with such fake websites/agencies would be doing so at his/her own risk and the CBI will not be held responsible for any loss or damage suffered by such persons, directly or indirectly,” it said.

(The report has been updated to reflect the correct full form of SSC.)

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