Since past fortnight, the Director of India’s highest Investigation Agency is under scanner. Mr. Ranjit Sinha, the Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has come under scrutiny because of allegations over certain meetings that could have been taken place at his residence. Apparently an innocent visitor register that was being maintained at the gate of Ranjit Sinha’s residence has shocked the whole country with stunning revelations.
According to the reports, Mr. Sinha had conducted many unethical meetings at his residence. He met some of the accused named in biggest scams of India including 2G Spectrum scam.
As per the reports, two ADAG officials, namely Tony Jesudesan and AN Sethuraman visited Ranjit Sinha’s residence. Not just in May last year but also in the month of August this year, the two made visits straight to Mr. Sinha’s residence. DNA reports said that the frequency of their visits increased this year when Sinha moved a proposal to re-investigate the case against Reliance Telecom and Swan Telecom on grounds that some new facts have come to light.
Mahendra Nahata, an alleged beneficiary of the 2G Spectrum scam also made visits to Mr. Sinha’s residence, not just once or twice but 71 times. But unlike many others, Mr. Nahata had his explanation ready.
While speaking to The Indian Express newspaper, Nahata who is the Promoter of Himachal Futuristic Communications LTD. (HFCL) said, “I am a family friend of Mr. Sinha and have known him for a decade. I have met him a few times as a friend, but I don’t know where this 71 figure is coming from. As a friend, I will continue to meet him.”
Deepak Talwar is another person related to this scan who visited Mr. Sinha’s residence. He is a consultant whose name has made appearance in the Nira Radia tape cases. An Indian Express Report says that the CBI had registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against Talwar, but had closed it subsequently.Their meetings that took place 54 times raise serious doubts on the role that the CBI may have played here.
The CBI was recently investigating into the coal scan in which Congress MP Vijay Darda and Devendra Darda (his son) have been named as accused. While the investigations were on, both father and son visited Mr.Sinha’s house. Apart from them, Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Subodh Kant Sahai, BJP leader and the current Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Bhupinder Singh Hooda visited Mr. Sinha’s residence too.
RanjitSinha:
A 1974 batch IPS officer, Mr.RanjitSinha has served Indo-Tibetian Border Police as the Director General of Police, Railway Protection Force, Central Reserve Police Force as IG (Operations) in Srinagar and IG (Personnel) in Delhi. He was then appointed as the Director of Central Bureau of Investigations.
He was chosen for this post in CBI over Sharad Sinha, the Director, National Investigation Agency and Atul Kumar, Director General, Uttar Pradesh who were recommended by the Central Vigilance Commission as he was senior to the other two. He was appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Bharatiya Janata Party had raised doubts on the way in which Mr. Sinha was appointed as the Director of CBI by the then Congress government.
The Visitors Diary:
The visitor’s diary which has made these shocking revelations has been produced in the Supreme Court by lawyer Prashant Bhushan. As this case caught media attention, Mr. Sinha had moved to the court seeking a media ban on this case. But the Supreme Court of India had turned down his plea.
Being the Director of CBI, Ranjit Sinha meeting several accused is casual but what was so clandestine in these meetings that they had to be arranged at his residence? Certainly, he could have met them at his office but these meetings took place at his home.
Denying the allegations, Mr. Sinha has called this diary as a dubious one. Questions also rose upon the authenticity of the diary and the manner in which it reached Prashant Bhushan.
Mr. Sinha asserts that the name of the whistle blower who provided Mr. Bhushan with this list should be revealed. This was sought by Mr. Sinha in a plea filed by him in the court.
The Supreme Court of India is currently hearing on the matter and only time will tell us all what more twists and turns the case takes.
Tags: CBI Prashant Bhushan Ranjit sinha