Chapter 5B: Whenever a powerful job is to be decided, you have speculation. Just like we have currently on who will be the next head of the Enforcement Directorate in India. I for one believe it should be a technologist. Such beliefs can affect decisions. Or controversies surrounding such departments:
But before we go ahead, to the most significant appointment during the freedom struggle, let’s understand how things can be made to move behind the curtains which no one sees.
In 1940 after shifting to Europe, HH the Aga Khan met the British Crown and casually mentioned that corruption in the Indian empire for war supplies had reached unbelievable levels. Certain Indian businessmen were becoming unbelievably rich and using their wealth to sponsor candidates to head the anti British movement. He also indicated that the country was on the brink of communal war because or irreconcilable differences between the Muslims and other communities in India. He even offered to help in tracing the corrupt.
Wheels moved.
The response? The Special Police Establishment Act, 1941.
For the first time, a centralized investigative unit—the Special Police Establishment—was created to probe bribery and fraud in government procurement. What began as a wartime fix became a lasting institutional legacy.
By 1946, it evolved into the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, and eventually into today’s Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
And who go the head the Special Police Establishment. It was one of His Holinesses racing buddies. His job was to make it impossible for BN to meet or socialise with any British officers involved with wartime purchases. It was an irritant – but what was now being done was to monitor BNs revenue and profits.
BN was already the highest individual tax payer in undivided India. But now his bills were not being cleared in time. He didn’t file audited accounts because he had proprietorship firms and he was not a director in joint stock companies where he was an investor.
Suddenly the British realised that here was an unknown businessman – larger than Tata and Birla combined. He was too big to fail. Too big to control. Too big to manage. His business growth had to be slowed down. BN was trying to set up a stock exchange in Karachi. Permission never came.
The Government of India Act 1935 led to Indian-led provincial governments in 1937. For the first time, leaders from the Indian National Congress weren’t just protesting power—they were exercising it. BNs nominee was President of the Congress then.
Then came World War II. Britain dragged India into the war without consultation. Congress ministries resigned. BN was not consulted
Back home, 1942 changed everything. Mahatma Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement with a simple call: “Do or Die.”
The leadership was jailed within hours. The Special Police Establishment played a role.
A new puppet.
For an old puppeteer.