2G case: Supreme Court removes CBI chief Ranjit Sinha

In a huge vindication of dna's expose on the 2 Janpath diary maintained at CBI director's Ranjit Sinha's house, the Supreme Court on Thursday removed Ranjit Sinha from the 2G case trial and investigation. The apex court treated the content of the diary, which detailed as many as 50 meetings between Sinha with the representatives of 2G accused, as "credible". The court directed Sinha to recuse himself from the case.

The Supreme Court, which had earlier sought identity of the whistleblower who leaked the details of the diary, recalled its order, saying the identity of the whistleblower is not relevant since the facts available against Sinha are credible. "To protect the public faith in the institution and reputation of director, we are not passing any detailed order. We find the information furnished by the petitioner prima facie to be credible and required to be accepted," the bench said apparently referring to the sensitive of the case and file noting which were submitted to court in a sealed cover.

"In view of the above, we recall our September 15 order. We direct Ranjit Sinha not to interfere and recuse himself from the 2G case," the bench said and directed the investigation should now be handed over to the senior most officer of the agency. The jolt to the top cop came just 12 days before Sinha demitting office.

The court also snubbed Sinha for naming CBI officer Santosh Rastogi as a mole, who leaked the information to Prashant Bhushan. The court said Sinha's allegation is not proved and thus Santosh Rastogi stands exonerated.

dna, which has access to the diary, was first to break the story on September 2 that top officials of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) met Sinha at least 50 times in 15 months at his official residence at 2 Janpath here.

The court passed this unprecedented order after hearing three day-long heated argument and counter arguments from the counsel for petitioner NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), Sinha and special public prosecutor (SPP) Anand Grover, who was asked to assist the court on the issue whether the identity of whistleblower to be disclosed or not.

The hearing began on Thursday with the submission of Grover, who unveiled the file noting in the 2G case, and said the allegations against Sinha are credible and no need for identity of whistleblower as the noting established that CBI director had tried to interfere into 2G case.

Raising doubts on Sinha's credibility, Grover, said the trial against the accused could have collapsed if his predecessor UU Lalit (now a judge in Supreme Court) had followed Sinha's instructions.

Grover referred to Lalit's communication (which dna had reported first on August 4) to Sinha in which the director had sought to pursue a new line of arguments that the CBI has got some fresh evidence and thus the CBI be allowed to hold fresh investigations against Reliance Telecom Limited and Swan Telecom in the case.

Sinha had tried to interfere at the fag end of the trial which was going on for last three years and prosecution evidence was almost over and his move was going against the very core of the case, Grover said.

Regarding Sinha's role in Aircel-Maxis deal case, Grover told that there was delay in filing the charge sheet in the case relating to former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and others after Sinha had referred the matter to the Attorney General (AG) for his opinion.

Further, the court was told that CBI chief had insisted to reopen the case pertaining to Tata Teleservice, which was closed by the agency.

About DIG Santosh Rastogi's transfer, Grover told the court that the supervisory officer in the case was transferred after he opposed Sinha's move to file an affidavit saying new facts have come when the Reliance Telecom case was almost on the verge of completion.

This argument was countered by Sinha's counsel Vikas Singh, who was asked not to disrupt the proceedings in this manner and wait for his turn to come.

On this issue, CBI counsel KK Venugopal raised objection to Singh's remarks on Wednesday on Rastogi, who was termed as 'mole' who leaked all information to NGO's lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

Venugopal said the reputation of the senior officer is tarnished by such remarks and sought court to ask Sinha to withdraw his statement.

Meanwhile, Bhushan also told the court that he never met Rastogi in connection with the 2 Janpath Diary, after which the court in its order said, "Sinha's allegation against Rastogi stands disproved and the officer stands exonerated."

Responding to the series of allegation against Sinha, his lawyer said it is unfair to say that his client has bypassed the then SPP and worked in favour of the accused.

He defended Sinha saying, "Director works in his own way as per the law and the same should not come under the court's scrutiny. He can give his opinion when it is required but the same was treated as bypassing the prosecutor which is unfair.''