Ex-CBI officer empowered to summon in probe against Sinha: SC

The Supreme Court today entrusted ex-CBI Special Director M L Sharma with the power to summon any person in his inquiry against Ranjit Sinha, accused of scuttling probe in the coal block scam as the agency's chief.
"We make it clear that M L Sharma is entitled to summon any person in the inquiry," a special bench of Justices M B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri said and also ordered that he will have access to all documents required by him for his probe.
The bench, which asked the former CBI officer to submit the report of inquiry in three months, accepted his requirement of three retired police officers and two support staff for carrying the job entrusted to him.

The apex court asked the Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to make sure that concerned authorities provide him all required facilities like office space and transport at the earliest.
The bench said it will fix the remuneration for Sharma and others on November 16 after knowing the exact nature of work likely to be done by them, as Sharma himself has declined to make any demand.
A letter written by Sharma to the Attorney General about the names of officers and secretarial staff required by him was taken on record after all sides agreed to his proposal.

Sharma, who had emerged as the first choice of the apex court, had given his consent to assist the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in its probe against Sinha and agreed to its request to reconsider the demands for remuneration and infrastructure.

The court on last hearing on September 7 had said the scope of inquiry was limited to recording the statements of persons accused in the coal allocation scam to draw an inference whether the investigation into the cases were in any way influenced or interfered with, as suggested by the CVC.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, Common Cause, which has accused Sinha of scuttling the probe, had submitted that it was a serious matter which cannot be investigated by either the CBI or the CVC and should be entrusted to people having experience in investigation.
The former CBI officer had on July 6 emerged as the first choice of the Supreme Court to assist the CVC after the anti- corruption watchdog said it did not have its own investigating arm.