CBI director Ranjit Sinha defiant, will not resign before his retirement

NEW DELHI: A defiant CBI director Ranjit Sinha is not inclined to resign from his post just 12 days before his retirement even as sources in the government say he would do well to go on leave after the SC removed him from supervising the 2G scam case.

Sinha said on Thursday that 2G case files will not come to him since the matter is already under trail and the probe is over. Nonetheless, Sinha said he will abide by the SC’s directions to recuse from 2G. Senior CBI officials said Sinha will not resign since the SC has made no specific observations to that effect.

“Why should he resign? 2G is just one of the thousands of cases under CBI probe and trial. The SC has also not taken any cognizance of the socalled ‘visitor diary’ matter and passed no observations on the same,” a senior CBI official said. “Sinha will retire honourably on December 2,” the person added.

A senior government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, however, said the CBI director “had an option” to proceed on leave till his superannuation date of December 2. Earlier on Thursday the Supreme Court told Sinha to recuse himself from the 2G spectrum case, saying the allegations against him of protecting some accused appear to be “prima facie credible”.

After the order, Sinha told reporters, “I will abide by the directions of the Supreme Court.”

Former CBI director K R Kartikeyan told ET that Sinha should resign. “I would suggest the most honourable way for him would be to offer to resign to protect the credibility of the CBI. This is a question of your position becoming untenable,” he said.