CBI is not independent; it's part of govt: Ranjit Sinha

Facing flak for sharing draft report on Coalgate with Law Minister, CBI chief said he had not shown the report to 'an outsider'

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Admitting that it was not an "independent organisation", the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday said that it was "part of the government".

"I am a part of the government, not an independent organisation," CBI chief Ranjit Sinha told the media.

Facing flak for letting Law Minister Ashwani Kumar vet the draft report prepared by the agency probing the allocation of coal blocks, Sinha said he had not shown the report to an outsider.

"I have not shown anything to an outsider. Information was shared only with the law minister," he said, adding the CBI would hide nothing from the Supreme Court.

An apex court bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha has asked Sinha to file an affidavit stating the changes made in the draft report vetted by the law minister. It also rapped the government for interfering in the CBI probe.

Last week, the CBI told the Supreme Court that it shared its March 8 status report with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and a senior bureaucrat in the Prime Minister's Office.