The Supreme Court today empowered the probe panel against former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha to summon him for questioning and ask the agency to provide relevant records to ascertain if he had met some of the accused in the coal block allocation case several times at his official residence. Sinha retired on December 2, 2014.
A three-member Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur also asked the CBI to provide all facilities to probe panel chief ML Sharma, a retired Additional Director of the agency, and his team, including office space, support staff and transport.
The Bench, which included Justices Kurian Joseph and AK Sikri, asked the panel to wrap up the probe within three months. Earlier, it had rejected Sinha’s plea against the probe, contending that the meetings did not in any way affect the investigations into the scam.
“Justice must not only be done but it must also appear to have been done. Similarly, investigations must not only be fair but must appear to have been conducted in a fair manner. The fact that Sinha met some of the accused persons without the investigating officer or the investigating team being present disturbs us with regard to the fairness of the investigations,” the Bench had explained.
The Bench said the charge against Sinha had become serious as he had met the accused despite the fact that in 2011 the SC had directed him to desist from interfering in the investigation and prosecution in the 2G spectrum allocation case after learning that he had shared some of the details with the then Union Law Minister.
A three-member Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur also asked the CBI to provide all facilities to probe panel chief ML Sharma, a retired Additional Director of the agency, and his team, including office space, support staff and transport.
The Bench, which included Justices Kurian Joseph and AK Sikri, asked the panel to wrap up the probe within three months. Earlier, it had rejected Sinha’s plea against the probe, contending that the meetings did not in any way affect the investigations into the scam.
“Justice must not only be done but it must also appear to have been done. Similarly, investigations must not only be fair but must appear to have been conducted in a fair manner. The fact that Sinha met some of the accused persons without the investigating officer or the investigating team being present disturbs us with regard to the fairness of the investigations,” the Bench had explained.
The Bench said the charge against Sinha had become serious as he had met the accused despite the fact that in 2011 the SC had directed him to desist from interfering in the investigation and prosecution in the 2G spectrum allocation case after learning that he had shared some of the details with the then Union Law Minister.
