Amidst reports that the Government has denied CBI, the permission to question former coal secretary HC Gupta in Coalgate, the BJP on Tuesday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored SIT probe into the “biggest scandal” in the history of the country.
The Opposition party felt denial of permission was a fresh attempt by the Government to stonewall the probe into the scandal, which took place right under the nose of the Prime Minister.
“We have seen how the then law Minister tried to manipulate the CBI’s status report by suggesting changes in it. Here is a fresh attempt by the Government to derail the investigations in the scam. This is unacceptable,” BJP spokesman Captain Abhimanyu said.
Reports in a section of the media that the CBI had sought to question Gupta, who is currently a member of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), over the allocation process for captive mines that has been slammed by the CAG for causing an `1.86 lakh-crore revenue loss. Reports said Ministry of Corporate Affairs turned down the request to question Gupta despite the agency arguing that his role as secretary between 2006 and 2009 is critical to its probe.
BJP president Rajnath Singh had earlier demanded that since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held the coal portfolio when the controversial block allocations were made, he should introspect on who should be held accountable.
“Whom was the law Minister trying to protect when he interfered with the CBI status reportIJ Should not the Prime Minister take moral responsibility for the scam,” Abhimanyu asked.
BJP demanded that the Supreme Court take full cognisance of the coal scam probe and appoint a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case. The party further demanded that the apex court monitor developments in the case on a day-to-day basis.
Abhimanyu also pressed for the cancellation of all controversial coal block allocations as was done in the case of 2G spectrum allocations. “The loss of funds to the exchequer in the coal scam should also be recovered from the guilty,” he said.