Ranjit Sinha's tenure was controversy-ridden

NEW DELHI: Ranjit Sinha's two-year tenure from December 2012 was marred by various controversies, during which the then CBI director had to face the ire of the Supreme Court repeatedly in the Coalgate and 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The SC had slammed Sinha in May 2013 for compromising with CBI's autonomy by sharing the probe report in the coal scam with then law minister Ashwini Kumar and government officials in violation of its order. This had prompted the court to denounce the premier agency as a “caged parrot“.

Although, the court did not take any action against Sinha, a Bihar cadre IPS officer of 1974 batch, the controversy led to the resignation of then law minister and additional solicitor general Haren Rawal who had told the court that the report had not been shown to anyone else before it was submitted.

The court issued notice to Sinha in September 2014, directing him to explain why he had privately met some of the key accused in coal and 2G allocation scam at his official residence as revealed by the visitors' logbook.

In an unprecedented order, SC had in November 2014 directed Sinha to completely keep off the 2G case as it found prima facie “credible“ the charges that he had attempted to help the accused in the scam.

“We direct the CBI director not to interfere in the 2Gscam investigation or prose cution. He will recuse himself from the case,“ the court had said. “To protect the fair name of CBI and the reputation of the CBI director, we are not giving elaborate reasons. Suffice it for us to observe that information furnished by the applicant (CPIL) appears to be prima facie credible. So, it needs to be accepted.,“ it had said.