Chief Justice of India Justice DY Chandrachud on Monday said that with passing years and changing times, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has seen a significant expansion in its jurisdiction, encompassing a broader spectrum of offences.

He said that the agencies like the CBI are facing new and complex challenges that demand innovative solutions in the age of technology, and evolving challenges.

“The CBI is being increasingly asked to delve into a diverse array of criminal cases beyond its role as an anti-corruption investigative agency. This places a huge responsibility on the CBI to live up to its motto of ‘Industry, Impartiality, and Integrity,” the CJI said.

The CJI further said that the need of the hour is to recognize the complexity of CBI prosecutions and leveraging technology to avoid delays.

The CJI said that the crimes are expanding from cybercrime and digital fraud to the exploitation of emerging technologies for illicit purposes.

The CJI who was delivering the  20th DP Kohli Memorial lecture in New Delhi, in the memory of CBI’s  founder Director on the agency’s Raising Day, said that with the widening of its scope, the agency has been empowered to probe diverse cases, ranging from economic frauds and bank scams to financial irregularities.

With the theme of the lecture being, “Adopting Technology to Advance Criminal Justice,” the CJI said that, ‘In an era of digital transformation, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. The interplay between law and technology holds immense potential to shape the course of crime detection.’

Justice Chandrachud said that the investigating agencies have to keep up with the radical change in crime in a digitally connected world, to solve complex crime patterns.

The challenges faced by law enforcement agencies are multifaceted and technology is changing the way crimes are conceptualised at the investigation stage, and to deal with the innovation in criminal activities, a re-thinking of the investigative framework needs to be done, he said.

The CJI further said that the central probe agency can be upgraded by reassessing the challenges of changing times and by making structural reforms.

“Criminal investigation is in other words not just about crime. It needs a robust understanding of new structures of business, and finance together with the evolving challenges to security which are faced by the nation,” the CJI added.