A high drama on disinvestment of Air India was witnessed on Thursday in the Lok Sabha on a letter purportedly written by the cabinet secretary to the Prime Minister with government terming it as forged and announcing a CBI probe into it but Opposition demanded it be referred to the privilege committee. Amidst continuing interruption, disinvestment minister Arun Shourie read out a letter by cabinet secretary that no such note was ever sent and said he would ask CBI director tomorrow for a full probe. Congress member P R Dasmunsi, who had quoted from the purported letter to emphasise that even cabinet secretary had suggested a rethink on AI divestment, first retracted and then said let the matter be decided by the privilege committee. “You (Government) say that letter is forged. I say it is correct... If I am proven wrong I will apologise or else government should apologise,” Dasmunsi asserted. In his reply to the six hour long debate, Shourie said, “Unfortunately we are becoming instruments of corporate rivalry and pointed out that Interested parties were spreading halftruths and untruths through media, MPs and industry associations.” Bureau Report