Supreme insult: CBI chief Ranjit Sinha taken off 2G, may face Govt probe - Indian Express

Supreme Court slaps another notice on CBI chief Ranjit Sinha, seeks explanation on visitors' logbook.

Observing that allegations made against him “seemed prima facie credible”, the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented move on Thursday, ordered CBI Director Ranjit Sinha “not to interfere” in the investigation and trial of the 2G spectrum scam cases.

The bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu, Justice M B Lokur and Justice A K Sikri, in a written order, said it was “not giving elaborate reasons” for its decision in order “to protect the faith in the institution and the reputation of the Director of the CBI”.

“We direct CBI Director Ranjit Sinha not to interfere in the 2G spectrum investigation and trial. The next seniormost officers of the investigation team would take over from Sinha and continue proceedings,” the bench said. The directions came hours after the bench ordered some CBI officers out of the court room, saying their presence was not needed and they should stop “acting like the mouthpiece of the Director”.

Taking note of the report filed by Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover, the court observed that the information furnished by applicant Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) “seemed prima facie credible”. It also recalled its earlier order in which it had directed CPIL to reveal its “whistleblower” and source of information regarding the CBI investigation into the 2G spectrum cases.

The bench remarked that there was an “abundance of papers” which indicated that there was “something wrong”. Later, outside the court room, petitioner Prashant Bhushan called for Sinha’s resignation. “He should resign immediately. The court has asked him to recuse himself from this case after a detailed report from the Special Public Prosecutor severely indicted him and found him guilty of unfairly interfering in the trial in order to help the accused and derail the cases. The government should now suspend him and initiate a disciplinary inquiry against him,” he said.

Earlier in the day, while hearing submissions from Sinha’s advocate Vikas Singh, the court asked the Director to “consider” what could be done on the issue since “if we write down a detailed order, there will be damage to the reputation of this great institution”.

Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover, appointed by the court to look into the allegations raised by the CPIL, told the bench that Sinha had “attempted to file an affidavit that would derail the entire prosecution in the 2G case”. He said information from the CPIL and the unnamed whistleblower indicated that Sinha met representatives of the accused during the period the investigation was on, and the allegations of interference were from “around the same dates”.

The allegations against Sinha concern attempts to interfere in the investigation and the prosecution of the 2G spectrum scam case against Reliance ADAG, investigation into the Aircel Maxis deal and the Tata Teleservices-Reliance dispute. It is also alleged that Sinha attempted continued…