Never interfered in matters of CBI, says Govt

Zee Media Bureau New Delhi: The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government came under intense pressure on Tuesday after the Supreme Court castigated the sharing of the CBI report on coal block allocation with the government. Clearly, the government appears to have been cornered even as it frantically tries to prevent further erosion of its credibility. Live Updates: 2.50 pm Our govt never interfered in the matters of the CBI, says V Narayanasamy

2.20 pm Law Minister Ashwani Kumar meets PM Manmohan Singh 1.55 pm Whatever action is called for will be taken after I study SC observations, says PM Manmohan Singh on coal issue

1.47 pm Matter between SC and Govt, don`t want to comment, says CBI director Ranjit Sinha on whether CBI works under pressure 1.40 pm I had said in my PAC report also that CBI should be made independent from the Govt- Murli Manohar Joshi 1.20 pm ASG Haren Raval replaced by senior advocate U U Lalit to represent CBI in the case. 1.10 pm CBI says will abide by SC’s observations. Emergency meeting at CBI headquarters to discuss SC observations on Coalgate 12.50 pm Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Congress President Sonia Gandhi`s Political Adviser Ahmed Patel 12:48 pm CBI affidavit is totally opposite of what the government had been saying, says senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who is a petitioner in the case 12:13 pm The Opposition creates storm in Parliament over the Supreme Court`s observations on the coal scam. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj terms the UPA government as the most corrupt since independence Earlier, in a big embarrassment to the government in the Coalgate case, the Supreme Court today termed as "very disturbing" the CBI affidavit on sharing its report with the Law Minister and others and slammed the agency for having kept the court in the dark on the issue. Hearing the coal blocks allocation scam case in a packed courtroom, the bench said "suppression" of the fact that CBI has shared its probe report with the government is "not ordinary". A bench headed by Justice R M Lodha observed that there was a "very disturbing feature" in the affidavit filed on April 26 by CBI Director Ranjit Sinha and the agency must be restored to its independent position. Sinha, in his two page affidavit filed in the apex court, had said that the agency`s status report on coal allocation scam was "shared" with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and senior officials of PMO and Coal ministry "as desired by them". The apex court said that sharing of information with the government about the probe into the scam has "shaken the entire process" and CBI need not take instructions from "political masters" on their probe. With PTI inputs