File photo of CBI chief Ranjit Sinha
New Delhi:
CBI chief Ranjit Sinha has refuted allegations that it was inappropriate for him to meet at his house with executives from Reliance Telecom, a company the CBI has accused of criminal conspiracy in the telecom scam.
"I have met officials of Reliance but have I shown favour to anyone?" he said to NDTV today, stating that those meetings took place "once or twice" at an office at his home, and not 50 times as alleged by a recent media report.
Mr Sinha also described as "fake" a visitors' diary from his home to be reviewed tomorrow by the Supreme Court. Some entries in that register, he ceded, were correct.
That record, allegedly maintained by security guards at Mr Sinha's Delhi home, was submitted in court by lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan, who claims that Mr Sinha met executives from Reliance with alarming regularity at his house even as the trial against the company progressed in a Delhi court. (Why Supreme Court Will Examine List of Visitors to CBI Chief's Home)
Reliance Telecom, owned by Anil Ambani, is among the companies accused of paying kickbacks to former Telecom Minister A Raja to get out-of-turn mobile network licenses in 2008. Some of its top executives were jailed along with Mr Raja. All the accused have denied wrongdoing, are on bail, and are being tried on criminal charges.
Mr Bhushan claims that Mr Sinha in recent months tried to change the CBI's arguments in court in an effort to let Reliance Telecom off the hook. The CBI in court has said that the company used another firm called Swan Telecom as a proxy to acquire more mobile network licenses than legally permitted. The CBI chief allegedly wanted the agency to change its stand and state that Swan, which was partly owned by Reliance, was sold before it was given licenses by Mr Raja and therefore, no law was broken.
Mr Bhushan claims that UU Lalit, who was representing the CBI, was vehemently opposed to Mr Sinha's initiative. Mr Lalit is now a Supreme Court judge.
"I have met officials of Reliance but have I shown favour to anyone?" he said to NDTV today, stating that those meetings took place "once or twice" at an office at his home, and not 50 times as alleged by a recent media report.
Mr Sinha also described as "fake" a visitors' diary from his home to be reviewed tomorrow by the Supreme Court. Some entries in that register, he ceded, were correct.
That record, allegedly maintained by security guards at Mr Sinha's Delhi home, was submitted in court by lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan, who claims that Mr Sinha met executives from Reliance with alarming regularity at his house even as the trial against the company progressed in a Delhi court. (Why Supreme Court Will Examine List of Visitors to CBI Chief's Home)
Reliance Telecom, owned by Anil Ambani, is among the companies accused of paying kickbacks to former Telecom Minister A Raja to get out-of-turn mobile network licenses in 2008. Some of its top executives were jailed along with Mr Raja. All the accused have denied wrongdoing, are on bail, and are being tried on criminal charges.
Mr Bhushan claims that Mr Sinha in recent months tried to change the CBI's arguments in court in an effort to let Reliance Telecom off the hook. The CBI in court has said that the company used another firm called Swan Telecom as a proxy to acquire more mobile network licenses than legally permitted. The CBI chief allegedly wanted the agency to change its stand and state that Swan, which was partly owned by Reliance, was sold before it was given licenses by Mr Raja and therefore, no law was broken.
Mr Bhushan claims that UU Lalit, who was representing the CBI, was vehemently opposed to Mr Sinha's initiative. Mr Lalit is now a Supreme Court judge.
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