The CBI today is actually a multi faceted agency that is doing almost all policing functions but the main focus continues to be that of Anti-corruption activity. Nowadays the concentration is also on cases connected to major economic offences in the Banking and Securities sectors and frauds involving the Stock Exchanges, for example the Harshad Mehta, Hiten Dalal, Bhupen Dalal and Ketan Parekh cases. Also major scams like the UTI scam and the fodder scam of Laloo Prasad are also looked into by the CBI. The CBI has come to play a very prominent role these days and is in an enviable kind of position.
What are your overall responsibilities ?

I am in charge of the Anti-corruption Wing of the CBI and look after the West Zone i.e. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa and Maharshtra and co-ordinate the activities of my officers. As far as anti-corruption activities are concerned, all the PSUs and Government of India Departments come under my jurisdiction.

You have had a very illustrious career. What actually inspired you to enter this field ? 
To be very frank, as a youngster, I wanted only to become a Professor. I studied Economics and was also teaching Economics for three years. That was the only job I wanted to do and it was ideal from my point of view. After joining, however, some kind of disillusionment took place, maybe due to the quality of the students and also because the quality of the various things around in an academic institution were not all that inspiring. I therefore decided that I must switch over to some other job and the best thing was the UPSC Exam. When one thinks of entering business, anything can be done, but for a job the UPSC is supposed to provide the highest calibre of jobs - the IAS, IPS and IFS. I used to stay in Coimbatore and came from there to Madras and appeared for the exam only once and got selected as an IPS Officer. At the same time, I was also selected as a Probationary Officer in the UCO Bank. I had a choice of continuing as a lecturer and doing a PHD or taking a job as a Banker or becoming a Police Officer. I was a young man at that time and there was also a kind of a thrill attached to a job in a uniform and I joined the Police Force without thinking twice.

Tell us about your early education and the motivation and support that you received from your family in those early days ?
Our family was a middle class family comprising of two brothers, one sister and my mother. My father died at the very young age of 45 and I was only 15 at that time. My mother bought us up and educated us all. My brother is an Electrical Engineer and my sister is married to a Wing Commander in the Indian Air Force. So, it was a happy, well knit, small family. I studied throughout in Coimbatore, first B.A. in Economics, then M.A. in Economics. 

In my family there was nobody in the police force and from the outside it looks very glamorous and nice to Society, so blindly without consulting anybody, I joined and I would say that I have done a good job. I did have the support of my family especially since the IAS and IPS positions are always glamorous and they take you up to a higher position in the social orbit. 

What have been the various postings and responsibilities in your illustrious career ?
My career started with training for two and a half years at the Police Academy at Hyderabad and Mussourie and in one of the districts of Maharastra - the Satara Zilla. I was posted for a short time at Latur, Aurangabad as Asst. Superintendent of Police. Then I was promoted and came to Poona as DCP, Zone II. Around that time the Chief Minister Mr. Antulay had divided the Ratnagiri district and a new district called Sindhudurg was formed. I was sent there and actually established the Police setup there which gave me a lot of administrative experience. After that I was again posted in Poona as DCP, Headquarters in the Poona City Commissionerate which gave me experience about the functioning of a Commissionerate i.e. the city police. Thereafter I was posted as Superintendent of Police, Satara and then brought to Bombay in 1987 as Superintendent of Police (Intelligence) in the DG office for a very short period. 
My next posting was from 1987 to 1991, which was the best period of my career when I joined Immigration. It was wonderful and I was able to help millions of people in getting their passports, visas and various registrations. In fact, all the foreigners who were here would get their visa extensions through me. That not only brought me into the limelight but a lot of these people became my friends. In fact, most of my friends in Mumbai today are people who became friends with me at that time. 

In 1991, I became Deputy Director - I.B. for two years and in 1993, during the Bombay bomb blasts, I came back to the Mumbai Police as Addl. Commissioner of Police. After that in 1995 I went to Nagpur for three years particularly to control the Naxal menace. I had charge of five districts and it was a challenging job, especially to go into those jungles and strategically do lots of things. 

While I was there, Mumbai became hot in 1998 - there were twenty shootouts every month, marriages were not taking place, cars were not being purchased, flats were not being sold. So, in the month of July 1998, I was brought in on promotion as Jt. Commisioner of Police (Crime). I took it as a challenge - it was a do-or-die situation where either one would succeed and come out as a winner or you could lose and then lose your morale and self confidence too. I had to motivate as a leader and bring up the morale of the same police force to deliver. Lots of strategies were formulated and they all yielded results. It was as a result of this that the number of shootouts in the next year was brought down from 101 to 43 and then in the second year it was reduced to 20 and now it is around 10. So the shootouts have been reduced by 90% which is a great achievement and Mumbai is no more that kind of Mumbai with a fear psychosis. People here are enjoying, Industry and Business are thriving. So that is a good job done because of the Police activities and vigilance.

What have been your other major achievements in the span of so many years ? 
When I was in Immigration for four years, the biggest achievement was changing the atmosphere of that office from a typical police office with “No, No” all the time to “Yes, Yes” all the way. It was a wonderful thing and now it even looks like a Corporate office where Officers wear a tie and smile and are helpful. At the Airport also, things have improved a lot. 

When I was Addl. Commissioner of Police (Crime), computerization was another major achievement . In fact, Rs. Two and a half crores were spent for linking the entire Mumbai Police Network into one unit. 

All the intelligence gathering exercises related to the bomb blasts in Mumbai and the Naxal fighting were also wonderful experiences that yielded excellent results too. The latest crowning glory, of course, was when I was the Jt. Commissioner of Police (Crime) which brought me into the limelight and also taught me, as a leader of the force, how to motivate and build up a team. I learnt and achieved a lot at that time when all my skills were put to test and I had to come out as a winner. 

What are the challenges that you have had to face and how did you overcome them ?
For the police, organised crime in the form of the mafia gangs is the biggest challenge ever that Mumbai has faced. Somehow the whole country is suffering from this problem of organised crime- the gangs of Dawood Ibrahim, Chotta Shakeel, Abu Salem and all the others. Strategically we had to formulate and implement a number of plans to cut them down and put them completely on the run. Today, Mumbai is fearless because of that. 

What have been the highs and lows of your career ?
Actually, there has been no low as such. Once you start with a clean slate, with an ambition and a goal and with a very clean kind of approach, there can be no low at all. You can attribute it to destiny, to fate, to goodwill, to the support of the people and the police force. My career has been looking up and up. It is progressing beautifully, touch wood, and will continue to go on like this.

Some interesting experiences ? 
There have been so many such experiences, practically everyday with so many operations happening. One interesting operation that really stands out is while the Indian Airlines plane was hijacked to Kandahar, there was contact between a group here in Mumbai and the hijackers and on the basis of that one telephone number, we were able to arrest them here even while the hijackers were holding sway at Kandahar. Of course we kept this a secret at that time because otherwise they would have demanded their release as well. It was a really thrilling experience that from that one telephone number we were able to trace them, arrest them and get the identities of the Pakistani hijackers and be able to tell the world that Pakistan is a terrorist state that is helping in the hijacking and various other things. 

What are your future plans ?
There are no definite future plans because in the police you go about doing the job to which you are assigned. I will have to take charge of whatever posting is allotted to me by the government. So, what is in store, one does not specifically know. I am now on deputation to the CBI and when I come back to the police, I have some plans to make a better police force, make it more modernized, bring about a better intelligence collecting system and make it worthwhile to be in the police. Another thing that I would like to do is to make available to all police personnel a total health package. This is extremely important especially since policemen lead very stress filled lives - many of them even die of heart attacks at very young ages. To that end, whenever possible, I have arranged a number of training programmes - the ones by Rooshikumar Pandya and Dr. Om Kaul have been excellent and a number of policemen have benefited. 

If you would not have got into this field, what other career would you have liked to pursue ?
I would possibly have taken to Teaching or Banking as my profession. However, there is not an iota of doubt or regret about choosing the Police force as a career. Many people say that by nature I am not cut out to be a police officer but that is what is actually needed in the field. The rough and tough look and behaviour, the moustache and other things are all unnecessary for the police. I consider that the Police force should be the place where brainy people with mild and pleasing manners should join. 

This is all very good and it is very nice to know that many people would like to join the police because I have done a good job. Given the choice of selecting a career once again, I would still again choose to be in the Police force.

You are deemed to be responsible for controlling the crime rate in Mumbai during your recent tenure as Jt. Commissioner of Police (Crime). Your views on the present scenario in and around Mumbai ?
In Mumbai, organised crime is absolutely under control, gangs are on the run and all the top men are not there today. Some of the big fellows who exist, like Chotta Rajan, Chotta Shakeel, Abu Salem and Dawood Ibrahim are outside the country and our efforts are to bring them to book. As far as the other things are concerned, the normal conventional crimes would go on, for example a senior citizen being killed or a wife killing her husband or a husband killing his wife. However, the fear that used to prevail has completely vanished and will not come again if the police is alert and they do their job, which they are co-ordinating quite well. 

So, the next big problem for Mumbai is the terrorist problem - what happened to New York can happen to Mumbai too. The ISI has been active all the time, knocking on the doors of Mumbai too, so we need to be vigilant. 

With the move to the CBI, your role has taken on wider dimensions. How would you compare the national situation with that in Mumbai ?
As far as crime is concerned, each state has its own peculiar problem. For instance, in Uttar Pradesh,, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh it is an all pervading scenario, whereas there are also certain states that have ‘less crime’ such as the states in South India. There, criminals are still using only knives, they have not even graduated to fire-arms. In comparison, in Mumbai the AK-47 has become old fashioned - they want to use much bigger weapons like the American Rambo and they are also available nowadays and in fact are being brought from Afghanistan. Overall, America and Mumbai are more or less on the same synch whereas the crime scenario on a National level varies from place to place.

Police personnel in various places also have their own different ways of looking at things. For instance, the Karnataka Police are perceived as being soft and well behaved, Bihar Police are not the same. As far as Maharastra Police is concerned, they are much better - they are educated and well behaved and the crime here is under control. The Mumbai Police, as they say, is the best and I will agree because they are sophisticated, well behaved, quick in their uptake and they respond very well. 

What are your views on the current spate of terrorist activities around the world ? 
Around the world, fanaticism is picking up and people were already aware of it. The World Trade Centre bombing is the biggest incident to have happened in the history of mankind. No doubt there has been an intelligence failure and the terrorist attacks are like a world war but now the reactions have to be very responsible. A parallel can be drawn to the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai. In India, we are alert all the time and our intelligence agencies are working round the clock. Jammu & Kashmir is a major problem for the country right now and so also Assam in the North East, the Naxal problem in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Also, the LTTE is a problem in Tamil Nadu and these are the basic problems which will be faced by the country in the near future in addition to the fundamentalist units like SIMI and others. Religious fundamentalism is going to be a major problem, whichever the religion it may be. I will not name any one religion, all the religious fundamentalists will pose a major problem to the country and also all around the world.

How is the international situation going to affect India ? What steps can be taken to safeguard India's interests ?
If there is a war, it will definitely affect us in more ways than one. Economically, the country will be affected badly and otherwise also, we will be prone to a lot of terrorist activities. We have been trying to impress upon the world that our terrorism has not been taken cognizance of by the world in the last 10 to 15 years. Now, if global terrorism is what they are going to attack, then they should attack the Pakistan sponsored terrorism like the Lashkar-e-Toiba and various other things. In that, we could be beneficiaries but in my opinion, our country should defend itself very strongly on its own rather than expecting others to do it. That should be a major policy stand that we should take, that is, to help ourselves. 

In what way can the common man contribute to help the police force and security agencies ?
The common man is contributing a lot as far as Mumbai is concerned. In my opinion, it is the common man and Society at large that is responsible for controlling crime. The Police force is nothing as compared to Society and the human masses with whom we are interacting. The police presence is only a token presence as the police cannot be in all Societies, every road, corner or dark alley all the time. To some extent, policing needs to be done by the people themselves and responsible citizens should look upon themselves as guardians of the law. 

Taking adequate precautions helps a great deal and that is what we have been telling people - all valuables should be kept in a locker and never in the house. Even if you need to keep it in the house, make sure that it is insured so that in case of loss, you are not reduced to nothing. It is also very important for the common man to be alert as to what is going on around him. Adequate lighting and the presence of a watchman also help. Overall, I must say that people of Mumbai respond beautifully and whenever the Mumbai Police has required assistance, they have responded in a big way and generously beyond belief. 

Your achievements are very inspiring for career aspirants who wish to enter the field. What do they need to do to make a career in the various security agencies ?
Youngsters these days have many options of joining Multinationals and a choice of various managerial positions. Jobs are highly attractive and the sky is the limit for them. As far as the Government jobs are concerned, one should aspire to be in a top position like the IAS ,IPS, IFS, etc. These are elite services and people in these jobs control, for example the Chief Secretary of a state is equivalent to being the CEO of the state. The budgetary allocations of the states are quite high and thus people getting into in these top jobs do get an opportunity to do a lot of things. In Government jobs, although the take-home pay is limited, the powers enjoyed are immense. Also, the real income is high since there are also good perks and other benefits - house, car, etc. In fact, there are some things that cannot be calculated in terms of money. So, youngsters should consciously decide whether they would like to join the Government or the Private Sector. 

What are the qualities required and skills that need to be acquired ?
Basically our whole country is plagued by corruption. We would like to welcome those people who do not want to make a fast buck out of their jobs and be a part of this corruption. This is the basic necessity along with straightforwardness. We need non-corrupt officers having a straightforward and a simple approach who have a positive attitude where they take their jobs as an opportunity to help as many people as possible. The entrance exams to get into the field are very competitive and you require to have an absolutely focused approach to preparing for them. The scope for girls is also good as they are equally talented. 

Once in the Police force, be polite, be mild, be nice but at the same time be firm and for that you do not require the typical police image. It is important to be as helpful as possible to the people and allow them to approach directly. I would like to meet a person only once and get his job done once and for all. If he keeps coming back to you, it means that he is not satisfied and his work is not getting done. 

Your advice to aspirants ?
Work hard ! Decide what you want and tread carefully and be focused. If you are determined to achieve, you will definitely achieve whatever you want I have got whatever I wanted in my life. Joblessness is a myth and it is only the unemployable people who remain unemployed. The problem of unemployment was prevalant during my younger days as well but I got every job I wanted. Stress on self development, follow a particular route and you will definitely get whatever you want. 

Coming to your personal side, something about your family, hobbies, likes and dislikes ?
My wife is Lalitha - she is a home maker and looks after our two daughters. One girl- Archana - is doing BMS and will probably take up a managerial job. My other daughter - Jyotsna - is in the 10th . They are bright students, typical Mumbai girls- streetsmart, sophisticated and direct. They are basically good girls and we are a happy family. My wife supports me all the time, looks after the house, brings up the children. Without my family's support, all this would not have been possible. 
I read a lot and watch a lot of News in various languages and derive a lot of information from it all the time. Organising training programmes is my hobby and passion and I also look forward to listening to lectures on certain subjects. I also go at times for some well made movies and dramas.

How do you relax in the midst of the high levels of stress and strain that your work involves ? 
I regularly go for a morning walk. It is also essential to have a rotation in jobs - people should also move to less intense jobs and change their attitude of wanting only lucrative but high pressure jobs. Maintaining a cool mind at all times also is a way of being relaxed.

Your message to readers ?
My message to your readers is that they must read and read a lot at that. Be alert and alive to changes that are happening around you. When changes take place all around the world, we should not be immune to them. Believe in God and love your family, these are the basic things that help, particularly in times of distress. Education and talent are the only things that cannot be taken away from an individual. Be honest and committed, have honesty of purpose and intellectual honesty. As long as people do their jobs honestly and don't look forward to an extra penny, our country can be the strongest in the world because we have every talent available. Remember, when we talk of 1 Billion people, we are talking of 2 Billion hands ! 

As long as people do their jobs honestly and don't look forward to an extra penny, our country can be the strongest in the world because we have every talent available. Remember, when we talk of 1 Billion people, we are talking of 2 Billion hands ! 

Many people say that by nature I am not cut out to be a police officer but that is what is actually needed in the field. The rough and tough look and behaviour, the moustache and other things are all unnecessary for the police. I consider that the Police force should be the place where brainy people with mild and pleasing manners should join.

Around the world fanaticism is picking up and people were already aware of it. Religious fundamentalism is going to be a major problem, whichever the religion it may be. I will not name any one religion, all the religious fundamentalists will pose a major problem to the country and also all around the world.

It is important to be as helpful as possible to the people and allow them to approach directly. I would like to meet a person only once and get his job done once and for all. If he keeps coming back to you, it means that he is not satisfied and his work is not getting done. 

If you are determined to achieve, you will definitely achieve whatever you want. Joblessness is a myth and it is only the unemployable people who remain unemployed.

The wonderful overview provided by Mr. Sivanandhan is a real eye-opener, especially in the light of the current spate of terrorist activities. We are sure that his rich experience-enriched views will also provide readers with a practical understanding of the situations at the ground level and how to deal with them. Due to Mr. Sivanandhan’s excellent performance in the Police force, his name is known, not only in Mumbai and India but all over the world. The New York Times carries reports on his achievements, Turner Productions had come down to make a movie clipping on his work and now, even Ram Gopal Verma, who made Rangeela and Satya, has been inspired to make a movie called 'Company' where the main focus is on a Jt. Commissioner of Police whom he has named ‘Srinivasan’ - the closest possible he could get to the name ‘Sivanandhan’. OT wishes Mr. Sivanandhan all the very best in his future operations and activities.

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