The Supreme Court is set to examine the veracity of the allegations that the people who made house calls to CBI director Ranjit Sinha included those being investigated by the agency for the 2G scam and other corruption cases.
Sinha found himself at the centre of a controversy with Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioner NGO ‘CPIL’ in the 2G cases, urging a bench led by Justice H L Dattu to review the records of visitors at the CBI chief’s official residence in Delhi.
Bhushan claimed that the entry register of Sinha’s residence posed a “very disturbing picture” as it is replete with “explosive materials” that is bound to hinder the administration of justice in 2G spectrum allocation scam cases.
Bhushan also referred to a media report, which by citing the visitors’ register at Sinha’s official residence, had claimed that officials of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) met the CBI chief at least 50 times in 15 months.
The CPIL counsel also proceeded to read out a few names of the visitors but the bench asked Bhushan to stop reading from his note to make the content public and rather furnish all the materials available with him in a sealed cover.
“If you can give the copy of the material to us, CBI and Director’s counsel, we can take up the matter day after tomorrow,” said the bench. Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for the CBI, also intervened and asked the bench to pass an order that all materials be placed before the court confidentially.
Sinha’s counsel Vikas Singh countered the accusations, saying attempts were being made to see CBI is “destroyed as an institution” by baseless allegations against its chief.
Sinha’s defence also came from an unexpected side as senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who was appearing in a 2G-related matter for DMK MP and an accused in the case, Kanimozhi, defended him. Jethmalani said “he is performing his duty well but all kinds of allegations are being levelled”.
Jethmalani told the court that Bhushan must be asked to submit his contentions by way of filing an affidavit and by not just reading out from his notes.
At this, the bench asked CPIL to make its submission by way of affidavit and posted the hearing on Thursday when it will also hear the NGO’s application seeking recusal of Sinha from all 2G matters allegedly for trying to protect some influential accused in the scam.
The NGO alleged that the “Director has made serious attempts to derail the investigation and prosecution being carried out by the CBI”. It has also sought to implead Sinha as a party separately from the CBI.
Indian Express | September 3, 2014
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