CBI tells SC it shared coal blocks probe report

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS): The CBI Friday told the Supreme Court that it shared its March 8 status report on investigations into coal blocks allocation with union Minister for Law and Justice Ashwani Kumar and a senior bureaucrat in the Prime Minister's Office.

But the investigating agency's status report of April 26 has not been shared with anyone, including the political executive, CBI director Ranjit Sinha told the apex court.

In an affidavit filed in the apex court Friday, the CBI director said: "I submit that the draft of the same (March 8 status report) was shared with honourable union minister for law and justice as desired by him prior to its submission before the honourable court."

The affidavit revealed that "besides the political executive, it was also shared with one joint secretary level officer each of the Prime Minister's Office, and ministry of coal, as desired by them".

Ranjit Sinha said this in response to March 12 orders of the apex court asking him whether the March 8 status report was vetted by him and whether its contents were shared with the political executive.

However, the CBI director in his affidavit also told the court that the investigating agency's status report of April 26 has been personally vetted by him, and not shared with anyone, including the political executive.

Political storm

Ranjit Singh's reported visit to Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy's residence a day before the agency filed Friday affidavit in the Supreme Court on the coal block allocations has kicked up a political storm.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the government of trying to meddle in the affairs of the CBI.

"The way Congress has used, abused and misused the CBI for its own purpose is a real threat to (India's) democracy. That is why we are raising the issue," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here Friday.

"We will see what kind of affidavit is filed on the coal issue and then we will comment further," he added.

Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta said: "There is nothing surprising in the meeting. The Congress has used CBI time and again."

Ranjit Sinha met Narayanswamy on Thursday, a day before filing an affidavit before the Supreme Court that the CBI's status report on the coal issue submitted to the court in a sealed cover on March 8 had been shared with the political executive. Sinha spent about half an hour at Narayanasamy's Tughlak Crescent residence.

The ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions is the administrative ministry in-charge of the CBI, and is headed by the prime minister.

So, finally the cat it our of the bag.

The CBI has confirmed on oath what we all knew all along, that, the Central government interferes in the investigation of the CBI to doctor is as per its convenience.

Similarly the state governments use the CID of the individual states to influence the investigations.

Thus during the left Front rule in Bengal, all murders committed by the CPM cadres were white-washed and no action taken.

Those same cases are now being revived by the Mamata government to punish the perpetrators of the crimes.

The Mamata government is now doing the same thing.

The murders and rapes committed by its cadres are being given clean chits by Mamata herself.

The involvement of her ministers in the Sarada Chit fund was so intensive that the High Court is of the view that the investigation be handed over to the CBI as the local police, CID would white-wash the whole crime.

They are already trying to do so by involving P Chidaambaram's wife in the money trail of Sudipta Sen, the owner of Sarada group.