Saga of Sinha's downfall

The trouble for CBI Director Ranjit Sinha started on September 2 when lawyer Prashant Bhushan dropped a bombshell in Supreme Court, saying several questionable characters were regular visitors to the investigative agency chief’s official residence

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Bhushan’s submission in the court came after a website posted a report after assessing the visitor’s diary of Sinha and claimed that those accused in 2G and coal scam cases were regular visitors to Sinha’s house.

It included Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) officials Tony Jesudasan and A N Sethuraman, who were said to have met Sinha around 50 times in a span of 15 months from May 2013.

ADAG was facing charges in 2G. The frequency of their visits increased after a decision to re-investigate charges against Ambanis.

Meat exporter Moin Qureshi, who is under Income Tax scanner, visited Sinha some 90 times, according to the entries in the diary, whose authenticity was contested by Sinha.

Mahendra Nahata, a 2G scam suspect, met Sinha 71 times while consultant Deepak Talwar, who figured in Niira Radia tapes and probed in 2G, called on him 50 times.

Congress MP Vijay Darda (coal scam accused), Sunil Bajaj, head of corporate affairs in Essar that was probed in the 2G case, and former Medical Council of India chief Ketan Desai (arrested on corruption charges) were other visitors.

In an affidavit filed in Supreme Court, Bhushan had claimed that Sinha made “serious attempts” to derail investigation and prosecution in CBI cases.

The change in stand on 2G case that would help Reliance and other accused, removal of an investigating officer without court’s permission and delay in filing charge sheet in Aircel-Maxis case were cited to point fingers at Sinha.

In his defence, Sinha said he wanted to know their side of the story.  To buttress the point that he showed no leniency, he goes on to say that he did not hesitate to file charge sheets against certain visitors.

Sinha also wanted to know the identity of the whistleblower, which Bhushan refused to share.