Coal scam: SC allows ex-CBI chief Ranjit Sinha to raise objection

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday left it open for Ranjit Sinha to raise objection to the demand for a copy of original visitors' diary of his official residence during his tenure as CBI Director, by former Special Director of the agency, M L Sharma, to inquire into the allegation against him for scuttling the coalgate probe.

When the matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice H L Dattu and Amitava Roy, the objection was raised by Sinha's senior advocate Vikas Singh, who said the original diary was taken into the safe custody of the apex court in connection with the 2G spectrum scam matter.

Singh said the objection will be raised before another bench which is hearing the coal block allocation scam matters.

A bench comprising Justices M B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri, which is hearing coal block cases, had referred the plea of the special probe team to the bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu on the ground that the visitors' diary, submitted by advocate Prashant Bhushan, has been kept in a sealed cover in pursuance of the order of CJI bench.

Taking note of the submissions, the CJI said Sinha's counsel can raise the objection before another bench on the issue.

"You can say that the diary was for the 2G case and not for the coal scam cases," the bench said while posting the matter for Thursday.

The bench, while hearing the coal matter on September 30, had observed "we realise that this document is important."

The diary allegedly contains names of persons, including those facing court cases in the 2G and coalgate scams who had visited Sinha's official residence during his tenure as the CBI Director.

The apex court had on September 14, entrusted M L Sharma with the power to summon any person in his inquiry against Sinha, accused of scuttling probe in the coal block scam as the agency's chief.

It had also ordered that Sharma will have access to all documents required by him for his probe and asked him to submit the report of inquiry in three months.

Sharma, who had emerged as the first choice of the apex court, had given his consent to assist the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in its probe against Sinha.

The court had on September 7 said the scope of inquiry was limited to recording the statements of persons accused in the coal allocation scam to draw an inference whether the probe into the cases were in any way influenced or interfered with, as suggested by the CVC.