NGO pleads for keeping CBI chief Ranjit Sinha out of coal scam probe

Already under attack, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha today faced fresh fire from an NGO which moved the Supreme Court demanding that he be kept away from the coal block allocation scam probe because he interefered with it.

In an application filed in the court, NGO, Common Cause, referred to reports about the entry register at the CBI director's residence containing names of "influential" persons allegedly involved in the coalgate scam. 

It accused him of scuttling the probe in the "high magnitdue" cases in which 20 FIRs for offences of corruption, cheating, and criminal conspiracy have been lodged and two charge sheets placed in trial court.

The NGO alleged that the entry register, which it filed in a sealed envelope along with the application, suggest that influential people named in coal blocks scam, 2G cases and 4G scandal met Sinha and "many of the meetings were held late at night".

The application also referred to the apex court orders to keep the probe free from any interference and to the changing of the status reports of the probe at the instance of polictical executive.

The NGO said it was filing the application in the context of the "extraordinary developments" that have recently come to light.

It claimed there are "incontrovertible" facts in the public domain which lead to the "inescapable conclusion" that it is necessary to remove Sinha from the case for ensuring fair and impartial investigations.