File photo of CBI Director Ranjit Sinha
The Prime Minister has been asked to fire CBI chief Ranjit Sinha by lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan, who has filed several cases against the CBI's top man in the Supreme Court this week.
Mr Bhushan's written request to the PM comes in a week that has seen Mr Sinha embarrassed by the list of visitors to his Delhi home. Among those who allegedly made frequent house calls are several people who his agency is investigating on criminal charges for the alpha scams pivoted on the allocation of coal and telecom resources.
Mr Bhushan, who is a senior leader of Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, has submitted the visitors' list, maintained by security guards at Mr Sinha's home, to the Supreme Court, which will examine the record on Monday. Mr Sinha's lawyers have said that the charges against him are baseless.
In a separate petition, which the Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday, Mr Bhushan has said that the CBI chief should be ousted from the agency's investigation into the coal scam because he allegedly tried to impede an independent inquiry. As proof of his claim, Mr Bhushan points to the fact that Mr Sinha's at-home conferrals involved Congress leaders linked to the scandal. Mr Bhushan has also stressed that last year, Mr Sinha admitted to the Supreme Court that a report on the coal investigation that was meant to be confidential for judges was reviewed and altered by members of the then government.
It is on Mr Bhushan's request that the Supreme Court has been monitoring the CBI's scrutiny of the alleged crony capitalism that determined who got coal and telecom resources. The state auditor has alleged that in the absence of a transparent bidding process, telecom and coal licenses were issued through faulty processes that cost the country lakhs of crores.