Ex-CBI special director ML Sharma agrees to head probe against Ranjit Sinha

NEW DELHI: Former CBI special director ML Sharma has agreed to head investigations into allegations against Ranjit Sinha, the previous director of the agency, who has been accused of scuttling the probe into the allocation of coal blocks.

The Central Vigilance Commission, which will assist Sharma, is likely to file his consent before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, following which he will choose four investigators to help him, officials said.

Last week, the apex court had suggested Sharma’s name for the probe against Sinha and asked the CVC to seek his consent. A Rajasthan cadre officer, Sharma served for almost two decades in the CBI before retiring in 2009. After his retirement, Sharma was made an information commissioner.

Officials said the suggestion to rope in Sharma came after the CVC expressed its inability to carry out the probe since it does not have an investigating wing. Sources said the panel headed by Sharma will have the mandate to examine CBI officials who were part of the probe during Sinha’s tenure. However, CBI officials said the CVC team will require permission from the Supreme Court to seek documents related to the coal block allocation cases. The agency had faced the wrath of SC when former law minister Ashwani Kumar vetted its report on the allotments.

The team led by Sharma will also examine whether Sinha’s meetings with those accused were "inappropriate" and helped the suspects. This will be possible only after the panel examines the case files and notings, which resulted in either filing of closure reports or chargesheets, said officials.

Sinha, who retired in December 2014, has maintained that he did no wrong as the head of the agency and that he had only tried to resolve the grievances of those accused in CBI cases.