CBI chief Ranjit Sinha offers to recuse himself
Mr Sinha is under fire for his alleged meetings with corporate honchos
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-05 02:42 GMT
NEW DELHI:CBI director Ranjit Sinha on Thursday said that he would recuse himself from the coal scam investigation if the Supreme Court orders so. Mr Sinha is under fire for his alleged meetings with corporate honchos, including certain accused of the 2G spectrum, coal scam cases and Kanpur-based meat exporter Moin Qureshi at his residence.
However, the CBI director, on the basis of legal advice, has decided to file a case of perjury for malicious, deliberate and inte-ntional false statement made against him by an NGO in the Supreme Court.
Mr Sinha’s reaction came immediately after an application filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan, counsel for the NGO, before the top court demanding that he be kept away from the coal block allocation scam probe because “he interfered with it”.
The NGO stated that a visitor register of Mr Sinha’s residence showed that officials of the accu-sed telecom companies used to regularly visit his official residence at 2, Janpath. Moin Qureshi, a meat exporter, against whom the income-tax department has launched a probe for alleged tax evasion, is also shown as having had frequent meetings with him.
Reacting to the petition, Mr Sinha told reporters, “I will recuse myself from coal scam investigations if Supreme Court orders so.” He claimed that he has not favoured anyone and the courts are there to scrutinise every paper and every aspect of investigations being carried out by the agency.