NEW DELHI: Coal scam cases continue to cause embarrassment to former CBI director Ranjit Sinha as the petitioner NGO on Monday placed before the Supreme Court details of meetings between Congress MP Vijay Darda and Sinha, leading to the ex-director’s attempts to close the case against him.
Appearing for NGO ‘Common Cause’, advocate Prashant Bhushan gave details of the unanimity among the investigating officer, superintendent of police and deputy inspector general in the CBI for filing of charge-sheet against Darda.
However, citing the visitors’ diary entries at Sinha’s residence, Bhushan gave details of repeated meetings between Sinha and Darda, and said the former attempted to overrule the unanimous decision of investigating officers for filing of charge-sheet against the politician.
Appearing for the CBI, senior advocate Amarendra Saran said these allegations had lost their relevance after Sinha’s retirement. He also said Darda stood charge-sheeted.
However, Bhushan said this was only in one instance and requested the court to order an independent probe by an SIT while alleging that “no one knows in how many cases Sinha had returned favour to others”.
Saran said the CBI would like to file a response to the fresh note submitted by Bhushan. A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri agreed to hear the matter on February 16 along with Sinha’s plea for initiation of perjury charges against the petitioner.
Appearing for Sinha, senior advocate Vikas Singh accused Bhushan of lying to the court on oath about the manner in which he procured the visitors’ diary and said he must face perjury proceedings. Singh also said there had been no verification of the authenticity of the diary.
Gujarat not cooperating with CBI in coal scam
New Delhi: The Supreme Court was surprised on Monday when the CBI informed it that the neither the Gujarat government nor its chief secretary was cooperating in giving documents relating to two coal scam cases involving companies in the state.
A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur had two months ago directed the state government to cooperate with the CBI and furnish all relevant documents to the agency. However, CBI said despite the apex court directive, no cooperation had been extended to the agency by the state or its top bureaucrat.
The bench asked for a response from the state and posted the matter for hearing on February 9.
TOI | Jan 13, 2015
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