Caged parrot cries foul
5 Sept 2014 5:42 AM IST
With Sinha getting no respite from the Supreme Court in the matter, his continuance in office is becoming increasingly untenable. Sinha received another setback on Thursday when the apex court turned down his plea to restrain media from broadcasting and publishing news stories over the sensational revelations stumbling out of the visitors’ logbook kept at his residence in the midst of a plea from another NGO ‘Common Cause’ to remove Sinha from the coal block allocation scam probe.
Cornered by the revelations and with no relief forthcoming from the Supreme Court, Sinha has decided to file a case of perjury in the matter. ‘Director, CBI, on the basis of legal advice, has decided to file a case of perjury for malicious, deliberate and intentional false statement made before the apex court,’ a statement issued by the CBI on Thursday said.
According to a report carried by DNA newspaper, there is an indication about one Mithilesh Kumar who seemed to have had an unfettered access to the CBI chief’s house. According to the report, ‘He (Kumar) visited Sinha at least 275 times in the last 15 months, almost every day, even twice or thrice in a day.’ The enquiries so far have not revealed much about the identity of Kumar, who some say is a very senior officer working with the income tax department. Others believe he is a close aide to a minister and also a real estate consultant. Many suspect he is a relative of Sinha.
Meanwhile, according to documents made public on Thursday, Talwar visited the official residence of Sinha at least 63 times in the last 15 months. There are allegations against him of putting together some of the telecom and aviation deals in recent past. As per the visitors’ logbook, Talwar has made 29 visits to 2, Janpath (official residence of Sinha) between May 2013 and December 2013, when the CBI was investigating the Niira Radia tapes, on directions from the Supreme Court.
‘This year till August, Talwar has made 34 visits to the CBI director’s residence. In most of the visits, he was seen entering Sinha’s residence in separate vehicles with registration numbers DL-8C-AB-1499, DL-3F-AV-0027, HR-26-BL-4622, HR-26-AV-4322, HR-26-BG-0216, HR-26-HB-3436 etc. The last visit made by Talwar were on 2 August and 9 August and all meetings lasted between 15 minutes to almost an hour,’ sources said.
Earlier, the CBI had named Talwar, along with Radia and former civil aviation secretary Madhavan Nambiar, in one of its PEs probing the role of middlemen and kickbacks in the aviation sector. Talwar became an influential person in the power corridors during the tenure of former aviation minister Praful Patel.
In 2010, the CBI found that Talwar was instrumental in getting all clearances for telecom firm Telecordia from various agencies and departments despite objections on the grounds of security. Then it was revealed that MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Telecordia and Talwar’s Consultants Pvt Ltd (74-26% share value), is one of only two companies that had been licensed to implement mobile number portability.
Talwar owns several other companies including IDFS Tradings Private Ltd, with services like in-flight retail, warehousing and logistics, airline amenities and airport duty-free shops. IDFS has a joint venture with Aer Rianta for duty-free shopping in the new terminal at Delhi International Airport. His company also has a joint venture with SSP, the international group that operates restaurants, bars, cafes, food courts and convenience stores in airports, rail stations, leisure venues and onboard trains across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America.
Meanwhile, in an application filed in court, NGO Common Cause, while referring to reports about the entry register at the CBI director’s residence containing names of ‘influential’ persons, demanded that he should be kept away from the coal block allocation scam probe. Also, the apex court turned down Sinha’s plea to restrain media from broadcasting and publishing news stories on the basis of documents pertaining to the entry list of visitors at his residence. A bench headed by Justice H L Dattu said it had gone through the documents and asked advocate Prashant Bhushan to file an affidavit annexing the materials.
‘We have gone through the documents. We cannot take cognisance of this until it is placed on record,’ the bench said. However, the bench agreed to give an urgent hearing on the issue and decided to assemble at 10 am, half an hour before the normal court time on Monday. In his plea, Sinha submitted his right to privacy and reputation was involved in the case and pleaded the court to restrain the media.
Cornered by the revelations and with no relief forthcoming from the Supreme Court, Sinha has decided to file a case of perjury in the matter. ‘Director, CBI, on the basis of legal advice, has decided to file a case of perjury for malicious, deliberate and intentional false statement made before the apex court,’ a statement issued by the CBI on Thursday said.
According to a report carried by DNA newspaper, there is an indication about one Mithilesh Kumar who seemed to have had an unfettered access to the CBI chief’s house. According to the report, ‘He (Kumar) visited Sinha at least 275 times in the last 15 months, almost every day, even twice or thrice in a day.’ The enquiries so far have not revealed much about the identity of Kumar, who some say is a very senior officer working with the income tax department. Others believe he is a close aide to a minister and also a real estate consultant. Many suspect he is a relative of Sinha.
Meanwhile, according to documents made public on Thursday, Talwar visited the official residence of Sinha at least 63 times in the last 15 months. There are allegations against him of putting together some of the telecom and aviation deals in recent past. As per the visitors’ logbook, Talwar has made 29 visits to 2, Janpath (official residence of Sinha) between May 2013 and December 2013, when the CBI was investigating the Niira Radia tapes, on directions from the Supreme Court.
‘This year till August, Talwar has made 34 visits to the CBI director’s residence. In most of the visits, he was seen entering Sinha’s residence in separate vehicles with registration numbers DL-8C-AB-1499, DL-3F-AV-0027, HR-26-BL-4622, HR-26-AV-4322, HR-26-BG-0216, HR-26-HB-3436 etc. The last visit made by Talwar were on 2 August and 9 August and all meetings lasted between 15 minutes to almost an hour,’ sources said.
Earlier, the CBI had named Talwar, along with Radia and former civil aviation secretary Madhavan Nambiar, in one of its PEs probing the role of middlemen and kickbacks in the aviation sector. Talwar became an influential person in the power corridors during the tenure of former aviation minister Praful Patel.
In 2010, the CBI found that Talwar was instrumental in getting all clearances for telecom firm Telecordia from various agencies and departments despite objections on the grounds of security. Then it was revealed that MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Telecordia and Talwar’s Consultants Pvt Ltd (74-26% share value), is one of only two companies that had been licensed to implement mobile number portability.
Talwar owns several other companies including IDFS Tradings Private Ltd, with services like in-flight retail, warehousing and logistics, airline amenities and airport duty-free shops. IDFS has a joint venture with Aer Rianta for duty-free shopping in the new terminal at Delhi International Airport. His company also has a joint venture with SSP, the international group that operates restaurants, bars, cafes, food courts and convenience stores in airports, rail stations, leisure venues and onboard trains across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America.
Meanwhile, in an application filed in court, NGO Common Cause, while referring to reports about the entry register at the CBI director’s residence containing names of ‘influential’ persons, demanded that he should be kept away from the coal block allocation scam probe. Also, the apex court turned down Sinha’s plea to restrain media from broadcasting and publishing news stories on the basis of documents pertaining to the entry list of visitors at his residence. A bench headed by Justice H L Dattu said it had gone through the documents and asked advocate Prashant Bhushan to file an affidavit annexing the materials.
‘We have gone through the documents. We cannot take cognisance of this until it is placed on record,’ the bench said. However, the bench agreed to give an urgent hearing on the issue and decided to assemble at 10 am, half an hour before the normal court time on Monday. In his plea, Sinha submitted his right to privacy and reputation was involved in the case and pleaded the court to restrain the media.
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