Supreme Court has second thoughts on whistleblower's identity, move a big blow to CBI chief Ranjit Sinha

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Ranjit Sinha on Monday suffered a setback when the Supreme Court agreed to consider a plea to recall its own order directing the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) to disclose the identity of the whistleblower who leaked some names in the visitors' diary at Sinha's residence. CPIL is a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

"We can correct our mistake, if it is a mistake, so that it doesn't affect pending and future cases. We feel it has larger ramifications," the bench headed by Justice H L Dattu said.

The diary, which dna has access to, reveals the names of two executives from the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), hawala operator Moin Qureshi and a few others – all accused in the 2G and coal block allocation scams – who had visited 2 Janpath, the official residence of Sinha.

The court then asked Anand Grover, who has been appointed as Special Public Prosecutor in the 2G scam trial court, after senior advocate U U Lalit's elevation to Supreme Court as a judge, to assist the court.

The court also turned down Sinha's lawyer Vikas Singh's argument that the court should initiate contempt proceedings against CPIL lawyers Prashant Bhushan and Kamini Jaiswal for disobeying the court's order.

On September 15, the court had directed Bhushan to submit the name of the whistleblower in a sealed cover for the court's reference.

Filing an affidavit, CPIL refused to disclose the name of the source, saying it will endanger his life and sought the court to recall its previous order.

"We tender an apology for our inability to reveal the name of the whistleblower. Our intention is not to assassin the character of Sinha...As public-spirited persons, it was our duty to bring it (diary detail) to the court's notice," senior advocate Dushyant Dave, who appeared for CPIL on Monday, said.

He submitted that the court can verify the diary through the registrar and appealed for a recall of its order, seeking the disclosure of the whistleblower's identity.

Singh opposed this plea. He argued that the apex court should not hear the case any further in view of the NGO's refusal to disclose the name of the "mole" who leaked the documents, including CBI file notings and the register.

Singh said that there has been no interference from Sinha's part in any of the cases probed by the CBI and pleaded that a long hearing on the controversial diary would cause more public harm and would affect 2G cases.

Rejecting all submissions, the bench said: "We are sorry....We are not passing any order today. In our opinion, to consider the prayer made by Bhushan, we need to have the assistance of Grover."

The court directed that all documents, including CBI files and the visitors' diary pertaining to the allegations against the CBI chief, be handed over to Grover who will assist the court on October 10, the next date of hearing.

Grover will not only go through the diary detail but also the letters exchanged between Lalit and the CBI chief.

Dna, which had access to the letters written by Lalit, had reported about them on August 4 under the headline, "Is CBI trying to save Reliance in 2G case?"

It was reported that the CBI chief has found some new facts, which contradict the present charge sheet filed against three accused of Reliance Telecom, Shahid Balwa of Swan Telecom and DMK's Kanimozhi.

CBI has already filed a collective affidavit before the trial court, but Sinha has proposed to suspend the ongoing trial against Reliance and reopen the case for further investigation.