CBI Director Ranjit Sinha’s admission that the status report on coal allocation scam was shared with law Minister and officials of the PMO and Coal Ministry has created a political furore.
leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said the CBI Director’s two-page affidavit before the Supreme Court has caught the Government with its pants down.
“All major concerns remain unanswered. What were the changes made by the Government in CBI documentIJ Whether there were exchanges between the investigating agency and the PMOIJ The entire communication should come out. The buck stops at the complete truth coming out. We want to know to what extent the PMO was involved in tweaking the CBI affidavit,” Jaitley told reporters.
BJP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “BJP is now fully firm on its demand for resignation of the PM. The CBI affidavit proves that the Prime Minister wanted to save himself from the CBI inquiry using the law Ministry.”
Former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh claimed Government’s interference with the CBI affidavit was violation of the SC directive. “It is clearly evident that there was political interference and premature disclosure of the report to the officials of the PMO, law and Coal Ministry. This is a violation of the Supreme Court’s directives,” he said.
The CPI(M) demanded that the Prime Minister make a statement on the coal scam issue in the House.
“There are various issues being raised on coal scam including the role of CBI and law Minister in it. So, the Prime Minister should come forward and explain it in the House,” CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said, adding, “There should be a debate on the issue in both Houses.”
CPI(M) MP Basudeb Acharya, however, demanded that law Minister Ashwani Kumar be removed from the Cabinet. “When the inquiry is going on under the supervision of the SC, then it was expected that the report will be submitted to the court first. The law Minister should be removed from his post for misusing the office and we want PM should give answer to it,” Acharya said.
Fresh FIR likely soon
New Delhi: CBI is likely to file a fresh case soon on the alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal mines for captive use even as its probe so far stands vitiated owing to reported tinkering by the PMO and law Ministry.
The CBI remained tight lipped about the companies and persons who could be made accused in the new FIR, but sources said the fresh FIR could be registered in the coming week. With the registration of the new case, the total number of FIRs registered in the coal allocation case would go up to 11.
Earlier, the agency had booked some companies for alleged cheating, forgery and misrepresentation of facts in their applications for seeking coal blocks. last year, the Central Vigilance Commission had sought a detailed probe into the allegations of irregularities in coal block allocations and the role of PMO officials as the Coal Ministry was under the charge of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when the blocks were allocated between 2006 and 2009. PNS