The Centre told the Supreme Court on Friday in strong words that an income tax report has disclosed “astonishing state of affairs” between former CBI director A P Singh and meat exporter Moin Qureshi and that Singh’s conduct was “wholly unbecoming of the office he held”.
The report has, however, given a clean chit to present CBI director Ranjit Sinha in this regard.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told a bench led by Justice Madan Lokur that the income tax appraisal report, prepared for analysis of a case and to determine the future course of action, unveiled that Singh and Qureshi, who is being probed for tax evasion cases, were in touch with each other “on a daily basis”.
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The conversations, Rohatgi said, were primarily in the form of Blackberry Messenger exchanges and “conclusively” established contact between the two on a regular basis on a variety of subjects, including “protecting some accused in cases”.
Rohatgi informed the bench, also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri, that he was “pained” to note that this was the organisation (CBI) that the courts have been trusting the most for a free and fair investigation.
Singh was CBI chief from 2010 to 2012, and was appointed as a UPSC member in 2013 for a five-year term. The India Express had in May this year reported about the contentious exchange of messages between Qureshi and Singh found by tax investigators. Qureshi is being probed for evasion of taxes to the tune of Rs 157 crore.
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