Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval put the government in a spot after he accused Attorney General GE Vahanvati of trying to influence the CBI probe into the controversial allocation of coal blocks.
Rawal wrote a letter to Vahanvati in which he made serious allegations against the Attorney General. A copy of the letter was marked to Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who is at the centre of the controversy.
However, hours after he wrote the letter, the government has asked him to tender his resignation, according to sources. The sources also claimed that Attorney General Vahanvati will not represent Centre in Supreme Court and senior advocate UU Lalit will replace him.
The decision came after the Additional Solicitor General Raval alleged that the Attorney General tried to interfere in the case.
Accusing Vahanvati of making him a “scapegoat”, Raval accused the AG of misleading the apex court. The explosive letter by Raval also details of a meeting held last month at the Law Minister’s office where Kumar asked for changes to be made to the CBI report that was to be presented to the Supreme Court days later.
“… on 6th March, 2013, while I was in Court, I received a message from your end, asking me to see the Law Minister at 12.30 with the Status Report. The message received by me was forwarded to the Joint Director, CBI by me. You were already present there when I reached slightly late. You would also kindly recall that at the said meeting, during the course of discussions, the draft of only one of Status Report of one of the preliminary inquiries was shown to the Hon`ble Law Minister and was perused by him as well as by you. Certain suggestions were made, including by you, to the CBI, some of which were accepted. No suggestions emanated from me,” Raval wrote in the letter.
Days after the meeting, Raval, who is representing the CBI in court, told the Supreme Court unequivocally that the report had not been vetted by anyone in the political executive.
However, the CBI director Ranjit Sinha later filed a personal affidavit in the SC in which he admitted the status report was shared with the Law Minister as well as PMO and coal ministry officials.
“I have a feeling that I am sought to be made scapegoat but I am confident that truth will always prevail,” Raval wrote.
With Agency inputs
