A First Information Report or FIR was filed against Central Bureau of Investigation chief Ranjit Sinha on Tuesday for alleged criminal misconduct and abuse of office.
Filed by senior Supreme Court lawyer and Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday, the FIR refers to Sinha’s role in the various scams, mainly Coal-Gate and 2G spectrum allocation scam, being probed by the investigating agency.
Last week, in a major embarrassment for Sinha, the Supreme Court asked him to recuse himself from the ongoing probe into the 2G scam. Sinha is to retire from his post as CBI Director on December 2 this year.
“We direct Ranjit Sinha not to interfere in the 2G probe,” the apex court said, adding that his subordinate could take over the investigation into alleged illegal allocations of second-generation airwaves for mobile connectivity by the previous UPA government.
The apex court verdict was based on a petition filed by Bhushan that alleges that Sinha tried to help those being investigated for serious criminal charges in the 2G scam. The apex court observed that apparently “all is not well” within the CBI and seemingly, the allegations made by an NGO against Director Ranjit Sinha have “some credibility”.
“For us, it appears that all is not well and prima facie it seemss that allegations made in the application by the NGO has some credibility,” the apex court said while hearing the case related to allegations by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation that Sinha might have tried to save some accused in 2G spectrum scam.
Sinha had claimed before the apex court that DIG-rank CBI officer, Santosh Rastogi, was a “mole” who passed on certain file notings and documents to the NGO on the basis of which baseless and false case was filed against him by lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan.
Sinha had shunted Rastogi out of the 2G scam probe, prompting the Supreme Court to note on Thursday that the transfer was deliberate.
In September this year, the apex court had issued a notice to Sinha over “serious allegations” that he met the accused in the 2G spectrum allocation and coal scams at his official residence in New Delhi. The Supreme Court also took into custody the visitor diary at Sinha’s residence, submitted by Bhushan, who said he got it through anonymous sources.
There are allegations that two top Reliance ADAG officials visited the CBI director’s residence nearly 50 times in the last one year. It is also being charged that the visits coincided with Sinha’s alleged attempt to file an affidavit which sought to water down the charges against the company in the 2G scam.
