In its 70th anniversary year the CBI is not exactly covering itself with glory. Rather, seminal questions are being asked of its role in Indian policing, and whether the cancer which is eating away its entrails has rendered the once-proud investigative organisation moribund. 2011 will always be remembered as one of the worst years in the 70-year history of the Central Bureau of Investigation which began its career in 1941 as the Special Police Department with the task of probing cases of bribery and corruption in transactions with the War & Supply Department during World War II.