Permission to question Gupta denied to shield PM: Javadekar

BJP today alleged that government's rejection of CBI plea to question former coal secretary H C Gupta was to "shield" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during whose tenure as Coal minister, coal blocks were allotted to private companies.
"This is being done to save the Prime Minister," BJP leader Prakash Javadekar told PTI here.
He said CBI plea to question the former coal secretary was to obtain clues as to how huge natural resources were arbitrarily allotted to private hands without benefit to consumer or to the state.
Javadekar who was here as part of a standing committee on Defence reviewing the security preparedness of the forces guarding the Indo-Chinese border, questioned as to why the government has denied permission to question an influential person in the know how of the matter.

"Ashwani Kumar (then law minister) had to do what he did to change CBI report and now unabatedly, they are not allowing CBI to probe who they want to," he said.
Javadekar alleged that CBI was yet to get all important files that relate to coal block allocation which he said is "lying with the Government.