Ranjit Sinha, Former CBI Director

When it was first revealed that the former CBI Director Ranjit Sinha had met the accused in the 2G and coal scams several times when he was in office, he had initially contested it. On Monday, however, for the first time he accepted before the Supreme Court that the meetings had indeed taken place. But even now his stated defence that this was just a part of his job is astonishing. The meetings had come to light from a visitors’ diary kept at his residence. Sinha had not even been aware that such a diary existed, perhaps one reason why he was so shocked at the revelations. It records him as having had multiple meetings. At the Supreme Court, his lawyer Vikas Singh said that there were no favours doled out by Sinha to the accused in these scams and that he had an ‘open house’ policy.

“The CBI director’s residence office is an open house. It is open for anyone and everyone to walk in and express his views,” said Singh. But that is very hard to believe. The CBI, after all, handles a large number of cases of various kinds, including murders. Does the privilege of meeting the agency’s director extend to all those accused in every case? Or just those in which powerful politicians and businessmen are involved?

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