New Delhi:
It cost A Raja his job as Telecom Minister and escorted him to jail; its trail of illicit money has the CBI gearing up to question Kanimozhi, whose father M Karunanidhi heads the DMK; and now, the investigation into the 2G spectrum scam is circling another political heavyweight - Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
The Supreme Court is supervising the CBI's inquiry of the scam. And in court today, questions were raised about why the central CBI official who was handling the inquiry has quit to join the International Cricket Council, which is headed by Sharad Pawar.
Prashant Bhushan, a senior lawyer, is the man whose Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is among the catalysts that forced the CBI to step up its inquiry after years of lethargy.
In court, he asked if YP Singh, Joint Director of the CBI, was offered an exit route from the 2G investigation because his questions were making Mr Pawar nervous.
So far, any possible links between Mr Pawar and the 2G scam have been shortlisted to Swan Telecommunications, which was one of the companies that allegedly paid Mr Raja handsomely in private for a bizarrely-cheap license for spectrum in 2008. Swan was promoted by Shahid Balwa, who has been arrested by the CBI. One of Mr Balwa's business partners is Vinod Goenka who owns another company - the Dynamix Dairy - that is based in Mr Pawar's constituency of Baramati in Maharashtra.
Mr Goenka has also been questioned, but the CBI. But the agency has on record steered clear of associating him with Mr Pawar, whose party is a major ally in the UPA coalition.
A few days ago, Mr Pawar reacted angrily to speculation over how well he knows Mr Balwa. "He is 27 years old and I am 70 years old, so can he be my friend?" he asked. He also denied that Mr Balwa has any stake in the Baramati dairy owned by Mr Goenka .
The CBI said in a press release on Friday that Mr Singh's departure will not affects its ongoing investigation.
The Supreme Court may ask for more information the matter in the next few weeks.