Law Minister Ashwani Kumar
On Friday, sources say, the CBI will admit to the Supreme Court that Law Minister Ashwani Kumar reviewed the agency's report on "Coal-Gate" and suggested a "list of alterations," many of which were ignored by the CBI.
Sources say that if that happens, it will be "untenable" for the minister to remain in office.
In the report the CBI gave to the court last month, it said that the government had failed to check the financial and other records of companies that landed cheap coal licenses.
The agency will use this indictment to prove that despite the attempted intervention by the Law Minister, its report remained independent of government influence. Sources say that the minister also allegedly sent the suggested changes to the Prime Minister's Office but did not receive a reply.
The Supreme Court had asked the CBI director, Ranjit Sinha, to submit a written assurance by April 26 that the document had not been seen by "the political executive."
The CBI's investigation is meant to be independent, and its report is meant to be confidential between the court and the agency.
But sources have confirmed to NDTV that on March 5, the Law Minister held a meeting at his office where he saw the report and made written changes to it. The meeting was attended by Attorney General GE Vahanvati, the Assistant Solicitor General Harin Raval, the CBI Chief and OP Galhotra, the CBI officer in charge of the coal investigation.
The coal scam is particularly sensitive for the government because for some of the years under review, the Prime Minister was directly in charge of the Coal Ministry. The allegation against the government is that it cost the country thousands of crores because it did not follow a transparent bidding process when allocation coal blocks.