JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to clarify its stand on allegations made against CBI Director Ranjit Sinha on the basis of a purported visitors’ diary of his residence here.
A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice R M Lodha also told Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to submit an “appraisal report” prepared by the Income Tax department following the raids on meat exporter Moin Qureshi’s establishments. Qureshi allegedly met Sinha 90 times at his residence.
The Supreme Court was hearing a plea by NGO Common Cause which sought Sinha’s recusal from the coal scam probe. The court also directed for maintaining status quo in the ongoing investigations into the coal block scam cases, saying no final decision on charge sheet or closure report should be taken till the next date of hearing.
The court order came as a shot in the arm for the NGO’s counsel Prashant Bhushan. Bhushan had claimed that Qureshi was acting as a middleman for several accused.
On Thursday, Bhushan refused to divulge in a sealed envelope the whistleblower’s identity. A bench headed by Justice H L Dattu, hearing 2G related matters, had ordered him to disclose the identity for the court’s consumption only.
The court, however, kept pending the application seeking the CBI chief’s recusal from coal scam probe and to constitute a SIT to probe Sinha’s alleged meeting with the accused like former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay and Congress MP Vijay Darda.