"I would like the CBI not to be under the Government for then it would have no autonomy, but I would like it to be accountable to the Republic. I would like the CBI to be under the Lok Pal, just as the Army is under the Defence Minister. The Director of the CBI, like an Army or Air Force or Navy Chief, should be totally independent professionally but not a loose cannon," he said.
He said the CBI probes were often directed against very senior government officials and politicians who wield great influence.
"They have to be handled judiciously and without fear or favour. This is why the CBI requires autonomy and an assurance of protection against the capriciousness of highly placed individuals. Unfortunately, but predictably, successive governments have been reluctant to sanction that order of autonomy," he said.
About the judiciary, the former bureaucrat said, "Thank God for the judiciary," and vital interventions by the Supreme Court in 1997 which brought about some sort of autonomy in the CBI.
"The standard politician does not and will never like an autonomous CBI. There is an irony in this," Gandhi said.
In a veiled attack on CBI in cases of booking senior bureaucrats like former Coal Secretary P C Parakh, he said, "There is justified criticism of CBI highhandedness and lack of sensitivity to loss of reputation of senior members of the bureaucracy against whom needless enquiries can get initiated."
He said at times the CBI is used as a tool to force civil servants to fall in line with an unscrupulous Executive, pressure. "No political party is a saint in this matter. But the CBI cannot afford to be complicit in this capriciousness. It must resist the unethical overtures," he said.
He also suggested that "leaks" during investigations were "despicable".
In the transition between today's CBI and a truly autonomous CBI under a Lok Pal, the CBI should be able to say 'No, sir' or 'No, madam' to the politician giving it a "wrong signal, a wrong nod, a wrong pat or a wrong wink".
"I would even say, if a Lok Pal turns out to be made of the same common clay as politicians and becomes whimsical, capricious or tendentious, that day the CBI should be able to say the same 'No' to that august personage. And that is when partnership, transparent and strong, between the CBI and the people will strengthen it," he advised.
"We need an autonomous CBI, not a self-seeking behemoth. But the fear of such a monster should not be used to perpetuate the status quo," he said.
He said the CBI should be able to say another 'No' to in-service lollipops or a post-retirement cookie in the shape of a job.
He said the CBI officers need to be respected by the community and not held in some kind of awe or fear. "And respect has to be earned, not commanded," he said.
