Stating that it may scrap decisions taken by CBI director Ranjit Sinha “at a later date”, the Supreme Court on Monday asked him to reply to the “very serious averments” against him regarding the visitors’ logbook at his Delhi residence which showed frequent visits by some of the accused in the 2G and coal block cases among others. A bench of Justices H L Dattu and S A Bobde rejected the argument by Sinha’s counsel, Vikas Singh, that filing an affidavit would mean disclosing crucial facts related to the 2G probe. “The averments are very serious and the CBI director can’t say that even if the averments are serious he won’t file any reply. if there is derailment of investigation, this court will have to take a strong view,” said the bench, asking Singh to file the affidavit by Monday, the next date of hearing. Reminding Sinha that it was monitoring the CBI probe in the 2G case, the court turned down his contention that some of the material could fall in the category of “privileged communication”, enjoying immunity under the Evidence Act. Singh argued that directing the CBI director to file an affidavit on the merits of the matter — on how he arrived at decisions regarding prosecution in some cases or dropping some cases — may affect the 2G trial as well. “You don’t worry about the trial. We are monitoring it. This court wants a very, very fair trial. Don’t forget, it was only at our instance you have taken over the investigation. On that day, we could have said that investigation would be done by so and so (some other) agency. this court may draw adverse inference too in case you decide not to file a reply,” replied the bench. It asked him to file two separate affidavits — first, on why he should not be removed from the 2G case and an inquiry initiated against him, and second, on the maintainability of the application by NGO CPIL, a petitioner in the 2G case, which has sought action against him in view of the disclosures in the visitors’ logbook. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, counsel for CPIL, pleaded for an order restraining Sinha from writing anything on the files relating to the 2G case while expressing apprehension that he may be able to do something to favour the accused. “On a day we come to the conclusion that there are writings on a later date, can we not strike it down? You don’t have to apprehend. We can do this,” the bench assured Bhushan. “Yes, we are in a hurry to complete the 2G trial but we also want to ensure a fair trial. For this purpose, we may also ask the special judge to halt it for a week if such a need arises. Heavens won’t fall. It has gone for two-and-a-half years. It may wait for one more week,” said the bench. The court also rejected Singh’s plea to direct Bhushan to disclose the source of the visitors’ logbook, saying it may ask him to do so at a later stage if required. Meanwhile, Bhushan also handed over in the court the original entry register of Sinha’s residence, claiming two unidentified persons delivered it at his residence a day ago. He also submitted a list of 23 persons deployed at Sinha’s official residence in Delhi. As reported by The Indian Express, Sinha’s visitors at his residence included representatives of companies named in the 2G and coal block allocation cases.
