Former CBI director Ranjit Sinha’s private meetings with coal scam accused must be investigated, rules Supreme Court

Former CBI director Ranjit Sinha (Source: PTI photo)

The Supreme Court on Thursday indicted former CBI director Ranjit Sinha for meeting coal block allocation scam accused at his Delhi residence privately and held that he must be investigated to gauge its impact on the probe.

The Indian Express had reported last year that on several days in 2013 and 2014, Sinha met with a number of people named in cases that were being investigated — or which had been investigated — by the agency.

A bench led by Justice Madan B Lokur called it as “completely inappropriate” on Sinha’s part to meet the accused without the presence of investigative officers in the cases concerned.

It said that the matter required a probe so as to ascertain whether Sinha’s meetings had an impact on merits of the chargesheets filed in the scam cases.

The bench sought assistance of Central Vigilance Commission to decide upon the modalities of probe and fixed the matter for further hearing on July 8.

NGO Common Cause had alleged that entries in the visitors’ register of the former CBI Director disclosed he was meeting the high-profile accused and those associated with coal block allocation like Vijay Darda, his son Devendra Darda and others to influence the probe.

Sinha conceded he had indeed met a few persons named in a visitors’ logbook but maintained that “one of the jobs of a supervisory officer was to meet the accused.” Sinha, who retired days after he was unceremoniously removed in November last by the apex court from the 2G probe over these contentious meetings, also stated that meeting the accused could not be held to be improper or illegal since it never impacted his decision-making.

The CBI supported Sinha in opposing the probe. Appearing for CBI, senior advocate Amarendra Sharan had said: “If the meetings have no affect on the investigation and the trial, why should an inquiry be ordered?”

Sharan had contended that the petitioner sought to settle personal scores with Sinha under the garb of proceedings in court and that this plea deserved to be quashed with heavy cost. “It is not a matter worth investigation. There is no shred of evidence to show the former director tried to protect anyone. There is no flip-flop and CBI has always been compliant with all the orders of the court,” he added.

Source:: Indian Express