M A I N   N E W S

Keep off 2G probe, SC tells CBI chief
Says prima facie Sinha tried to save some accused
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, November 20
The Supreme Court today directed CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to stay away from the agency’s investigation into the 2G scam as prima facie there was “some credibility” in the allegation that he had tried to derail the probe to save some of the accused.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu, however, said it was not passing a detailed order giving reasons for its directive as this would lower the image of the country’s premier investigation agency. Sinha is set to retire on December 2.

The second seniormost CBI officer would handle the 2G probe in place of Sinha, it said. The apex court’s directive has come on a plea by the Centre for PIL (CPIL) for removal of Sinha from the investigation as the guest entry register kept at his official residence showed that he had met many of the accused several times.

Today, the Bench also recalled its earlier order putting a pre-condition that CPIL first divulge the name of the whistleblower who provided the guest entry register for hearing the petitioner’s plea for Sinha’s removal.

During the arguments, the Bench slammed Sinha for naming a senior CBI officer as the suspected whistleblower and trying to ignore the advice of the then Special Public Prosecutor UU Lalit (who has since become a judge of the SC) to file a single consolidated chargesheet in the case.

Even CBI’s senior counsel KK Venugopal took exception to Sinha suspecting DIG Santosh Rastogi as CPIL’s mole in the agency. Sinha should have provided all the evidence against Rastogi to the court before making such allegations, he said. CPIL’s counsel Prashant Bhushan denied that Rastogi had given him the entry register, stating that he had never met the officer.

At this, the Bench said it would not allow the image of any officer, appointed by it as part of the probe team, to be tarnished this way. The SC was still monitoring the investigations and the CBI chief could not change any officer without its consent, it said. Also, the CBI was bound by the SPP’s advice in the matter of prosecution.

During the hearing, the Bench took note of the presence of several CBI officers in the court and asked them to leave immediately and do their duty in the office.

“It appears that all is not well with the CBI,” it remarked. The Bench noted that Sinha had tried to delay the filing of the chargesheet in the 2G scam case by questioning the file notings of several CBI officers.