Reveal whistleblower’s name, SC tells Bhushan
16 Sept 2014 5:53 AM IST
In a controversial judgement, Supreme Court on Monday asked lawyer-cum-activist and a prominent leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Prashant Bhushan to reveal the name of the whistleblower who gave him the visitors’ diary of CBI chief Ranjit Sinha’s 2 Janpath residence in a sealed envelope. The apex court passed the direction after Sinha argued that Bhushan is legally bound to reveal the source of the diary. Following this the Court asked Bhushan to reveal the name of the person who had access to details of cars and people at the CBI chief’s house.
It must be noted that Sinha has never denied meeting any of those mentioned in his visitors’ logbook, many of whom have doubtful credentials related to various scams currently being investigated by the apex probing body. However, his close aides have questioned the diary entries, even though Bhushan has told the top court that he was willing to ‘stake his life’ on the authenticity of the logbook. Later, he said that he will consult the whistle-blower and get back to the apex court, which said it will wait for the details before it issues any fresh order in the case. Bhushan has accused Sinha of trying to protect some of the powerful people accused in slew of sensational scams in India in recent years. Observers have said the judgement might set a wrong precedent since even journalists might be asked to reveal their sources, imperiling investigative work with media and legal spheres.
Sinha, on Monday, claimed that nearly 90 per cent of the logbook’s contents were forged to malign his image. ‘Some entries in the diary may be genuine, but it is forged,’ Sinha said. Sinha filed affidavit in the top court ‘rubbishing’ charges against him three days ago and said, ‘I have a residential office and there are people who do not meet me at the CBI headquarters due to undue publicity. Nobody can say I have shown any favours to persons I have allegedly met,’ he said.
Earlier, on 9 September, the SC had issued a notice to Sinha seeking his reply within 10 days following a plea from Bhushan-led NGO to remove him from the post and institute an inquiry for allegedly protecting the accused in some of the scams. On 8 September, the CBI chief was asked by the apex court to respond over the serious allegations against him for meeting accused in the 2G spectrum allocation and coal scams beside other corporate lobbyists including politicians at his official residence
in New Delhi.
When no response came from the CBI chief, the apex court decided to serve him a notice to respond within 10 days (by 19 September) on why he should not removed from the post. The SC also took into custody the visitor diary at Sinha’s residence, submitted by Bhushan, who said he got it through anonymous sources. But now, the apex court wants him to reveal the name of the whistleblower.
Sinha landed into controversy after the visitor diary at Sinha’s residence revealed that he met two top Reliance ADAG officials nearly 50 times in the last one year. It is also being charged that the visits coincided with Sinha’s alleged attempt to file an affidavit which sought to ‘defuse’ the charges against the company in the 2G scam. While going through Sinha’s visitors list, it was reportedly revealed that not only officials of Ambanis and other influential persons including Kanpur-based meat
exporter Moin Qureshi had also visited his residence at least 90 times in the last one and half years.
The others who have visited Sinha’s residence include Devendra Darda, son of Congress MP from Yavatmal, Vijay Darda. Vijay is an accused in coal scam along with his brother Rajendra Darda. Qureshi’s dubious activities and his connection with the people in the corridor of power including a former CBI chief was first broken by the Millennium Post on 22 February, 2014.
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