The Supreme Court's decision asking CBI chief Ranjit Sinha to recuse himself from 2G scam investigations is likely to have a cascading effect on other probes he is monitoring. His position as CBI director will also come under pressure.
Can Sinha now continue or should he be removed?
After Thursday's judgement there is no doubt that it will be difficult for a lame duck director to continue in his post. He is due to retire on December 2. The government has not made any comments on the director since the exposes started appearing. Various experts have said he has to now quit. "An indictment from the Supreme Court is extremely damning. Ranjit Sinha should be immediately dismissed and there is provision for that," said senior Supreme Court lawyer, KTS Tulsi. The petitioner in the case Prashant Bhushan has also demanded immediate suspension of Sinha. "The government should suspend Sinha immediately and initiate a departmental inquiry against him," said Bhushan. Former CBI chief RK Raghavan suggested that Sinha should quit immediately and fight the case from outside the agency if he thinks he was wronged. "SC's decision is a great embarrassment. It will be judicious on Sinha's part to quit. He does not derive any benefits from staying on," said Raghvan.
Is Sinha's role in coal scam case also suspicious?
The coal scam case hearing scheduled next week in Supreme Court is also crucial as Sinha had met few politicians and individuals accused in the coal scam at his 2 Janpath residence as well. What adds to the troubles of CBI chief is the refusal of special court hearing coal scam case, to not accept the closure report of the agency regarding a case involving Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda on Thursday. The court directed the agency to further investigate the coal blocks allocations, stating that Darda had misrepresented facts in letters written to then prime minister Manmohan Singh. Darda and his son had also met CBI chief before the agency filed the closure report between February and March this year.
Did closure reports rise during Sinha tenure?
During Sinha's tenure, the CBI has filed closure reports in at least 12 high profile cases including two disproportionate assets case against two former UP chief ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati. Not only this, a Mumbai court earlier this week, refused CBI's application seeking permission to delete former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan's name as an accused from the Adarsh charge sheet.
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