New Delhi:
Whether CBI director Ranjit Sinha will continue in the post may soon be decided by the Supreme Court, which today asked the Centre to submit a report that could establish a link between Mr Sinha and a controversial meat exporter investigated for tax fraud.
"The Centre's stand is important in this," the court said, also asking the CBI not to file any charge sheet in the coal scam till the next hearing on October 17.
Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan has alleged that Kanpur-based meat trader Moin Qureshi was one of the many questionable visitors to the CBI chief's home and a report of Income Tax raids on him earlier this year proves their link. But he didn't offer any details on how the report might establish the link. The Centre will submit that report in the next hearing.
Mr Bhushan, who is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, has asked the court to remove Mr Sinha from the coal allocation scam case, alleging that he compromised investigations by meeting some of the accused at home.
He told the court yesterday that his allegations are based on information from "a confidential and reliable source whose identity needs to be protected."
Moin Qureshi, a politically well-connected businessman who was raided in February, allegedly visited the CBI chief around 90 times in 15 months. Mr Bhushan alleged today that Mr Qureshi may have acted as an intermediary between the scam-accused and Mr Sinha.
The CBI chief's lawyer denied it, accusing Mr Bhushan of playing to the media.
Speaking to NDTV, the CBI chief had explained why he met some of the accused at his Delhi home. "I have a residential office and there are many persons who would not like to meet me at the CBI Headquarters due to the undue publicity. Nobody can say I have shown any favours to persons I have allegedly met," he said.