Exclusive: Former CBI director Ranjit Sinha in trouble ???

Yogesh Mishra

Lucknow: Former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Ranjit Sinha is in a soup. In a sensational revelation, the investigating officer in infamous 'coalgate' has told the special CBI court last week that the former persuaded to stop the probe into one of the murkiest scams known to have taken place during UPA's regime.

Shockingly, Sinha had ordered to discontinue the investigation at the time when CBI recovered Rs 700 crore in cash during a raid at the residence of Kamal Sponge Steel & Power Limited’s owner P K Ahluwalia, one of the players in the scam.

“I had already collected ample evidences against former coal secretary Harish Chandra Gupta, former joint secretary of the Coal Ministry K S Kropha, the then director in coal allocation section of the ministry K C Samaria and the companies those were granted allotment. Thereafter, when I sought Mr Sinha’s permission for further investigation, he abruptly stopped me and commanded to file the closure report as soon as possible,” said CBI officer Sanjay Dubey in Justice (CBI) Bharat Parashar’s special court.

According to the investigation report, the Thesgora Coal Block in Rudrapur city of Madhya Pradesh was allotted to Kamal Sponge Steel & Power Limited. It was clearly mentioned in guidelines of allotment that company’s application would be screened by a committee appointed by the Ministry of Coal. The screening committee headed by H C Gupta , however, gave the allotment letter to the company without carrying out the screening process. Eventually, a CBI report told that the company’s application letter was improper.

This is not for the first time that Sinha has been pointed a finger at. Earlier, an application accusing Sinha of demanding money from a person facing charges of illegal export of iron ore was filed before the Supreme Court.

Prem Chand Garg, managing director of Shri Lal Mahal Limited – manufacturer of Shri Lal Mahal Rice – had alleged that Sinha asked him for a bribe of Rs 25 crore to dilute the cheating case registered in Bangalore. Garg claimed the bribe was demanded on three different occasions and which he refused to pay.

A special bench headed by Justice MB Lokur – hearing coal scam cases – took up his plea in which he sought SC’s permission to give a statement before the special probe team investigating misconduct charges against Sinha.