Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Ranjit Sinha on Monday met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, raising many questions about the purpose of the meeting. Coming out of the 10-minute meeting, Sinha declined to reveal what transpired between him and Patnaik. “It was a courtesy call,” was all he told the waiting mediapersons.
Sinha’s single-line sentence did not answer any question whether he met Patnaik over the mining scam or the chit fund scam or the coal scam or on any other issue. Patnaik’s role is under the scanner in at least in two cases, his 2005 letter to the Coal Ministry recommending the allocation of the Talabira II coal block to the Aditya Birla group after the proposal was rejected by the screening committee and the recommendation in 2002 making a case for allocation of a coal block earlier given to another company.
Sinha’s meeting with the Chief Minister raises speculations as it comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing two PIls demanding CBI probe into the mining and chit fund scams.