An application filed by NGO Common Cause and its lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Thursday reveals it was a “trusted whistleblower” who brought to Mr. Bhushan’s notice entries in the visitors’ register maintained at official residence of CBI Director Ranjit Sinha at 2, Janpath, in the National Capital.
The application, which seeks recusal of the CBI chief from all investigations and prosecutions in the coal scam cases, said the entry registers is that of years 2013 and 2014.
It acknowledges that several media organisations had accessed these records which show that the CBI Director “met at his residence several persons, who are the accused in prominent cases such as coal block allocation scam, 2G scam, etc, without any investigation officers being present” even as the CBI probe was on.
“Many of the meetings were held at night,” the application said.
Specific detailsIt said the handwritten entries are in the “thousands”, containing specific details such as the name of the visitor, date, time of visit and vehicle number.
The application also points to the conduct of the CBI chief after these details were brought to the notice of the Supreme Court by Mr. Bhushan during a hearing on September 2.
“When these facts came to light, Mr. Sinha got the CBI to issue a statement that these revelations were a lie and no such entry register existed. Later, he issued a statement that this was tantamount to invasion of his privacy. Then he said some entries were genuine, while others were forged. Finally, he again changed his statement and claimed there was nothing wrong in meeting the accused,” it said.
