Favoured no one, claims CBI chief Ranjit Sinha
Prashant Bhushan alleged Sinha had been meeting people linked to the 2G case
New Delhi: Amid fresh controversy over his alleged recent meetings with corporate Honchos —including some of the accused in the 2G Spectrum and Coal scams—and Kanpur-based meat exporter Moin Qureshi at his residence, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha on Wednesday denied the authenticity of these reports and said that he has never given undue favours to anyone.
Talking exclusively to Deccan Chronicle on Wednesday, Mr. Sinha said, “My meetings with certain private persons does not mean that the agency’s investigations against them were compromised”.
When specifically asked about frequent visits of Kanpur-based meat exporter Moin Qureshi to his official residence-2 Janpath, the CBI Director said, “It is true that I met Qureshi two-three times in the recent past because he is my friend. But there is no CBI case against him at all”.
Fifty-seven-year-old Qureshi has been under IT department scanner for several months now for alleged tax evasion as the tax sleuths claimed that the turnover of his companies was 'under-reported'.
The IT authorities are also probing whether Qureshi had any link to a heavy cash transaction between Dubai and London.
Prominent lawyer Prashant Bhushan alleged in the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the CBI Director had been meeting people linked to those accused in the 2G case at his residence, a claim that the court will examine on Thursday.
During the course of hearing Bhushan also offered to place the 'visitors register' of Sinha's residence as proof.
Bhushan on Wednesday handed over the same register to the CBI for further scrutiny as demanded by the agency.
The same register has revealed that meat exporter visited Sinha's residence at least 90 times in 15 months, from May 2013 to August 2014.
Mr Sinha said, “'No visitors diary is maintained at my residence at all. Officially only two diaries are maintained by the Delhi Police and that too for security reasons. One is related to my movements and another one is maintained for the security personnel who are on my security duty''.