Vikas Singh, counsel for CBI Director Ranjit Sinha, barged into the Supreme Court during a hearing of the coal scam case on Friday, asking it not to hear “scandalous allegations” against Mr. Sinha and to dismiss an NGO’s application seeking the top cop’s withdrawal from the investigation and trial. Mr. Sinha is facing allegations that he protected people accused in 2G and coal scam cases.
Mr. Singh grabbed the centre stage, at the cost of inviting the court’s ire, to convey that its rules did not allow it to hear the application unless the NGO, represented by Prashant Bhushan, revealed the identity of the whistleblower who passed on information to him. The CBI documents and Mr. Sinha’s guest list that he accessed thus form the basis of the allegations against the CBI Director.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha was hearing an application filed by the NGO, Common Cause, asking the court to direct Mr. Sinha to keep off the coal scam probe and order his prosecution in the light of allegations levelled against him.
It also wanted a Special Investigation Team to verify the “abuse of authority” by the CBI chief in meeting accused persons at his home in the absence of the investigating officers.
Similar demands were made in another application, also filed through Mr. Bhushan for another NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), in the 2G cases being heard by a Bench led by Justice H.L. Dattu.
Though the guest list and CBI documents were handed over by Mr. Bhushan to Justice Dattu’s Bench in a sealed cover, the CPIL refused to disclose the whistleblower’s identity despite an order. The case is scheduled to be heard on September 22.
“He [Mr. Bhushan] has refused to reveal the name of the whistleblower, despite the court asking him to do so in a sealed cover. So, even judges of the court are not to be trusted?” said Mr. Singh. The senior counsel broke in as Mr. Bhushan was beginning his opening arguments in the volatile hearing on Friday.
Mr. Singh contended that this application and the one filed before Justice Dattu’s Bench were based on the same set of materials — the CBI chief’s visitors’ register. Mr. Bhushan responded that the applications filed in the two courts were “independent of each other” as one had to do with the 2G case and the other dealt with the coal scam.
Mr. Singh accused Mr. Bhushan of trying to grab media headlines by bringing “scandalous allegations against the chief of the country’s premier agency”. At one point, the Bench had to caution Mr. Singh that he has “crossed the limit,” even telling him that he had “hijacked the proceedings.”
“This is a sad day. If this is the way things are happening in the First Court of the country, what will be the situation in other courts?” the Chief Justice said.
With Chief Justice Lodha retiring on September 27, the matter will be heard by a new Bench on October 17.
