In response to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh's remark that he would quit public life if corruption charges against him are proved, Team Anna on Wednesday demanded an independent probe.
“We will be most happy if the allegations levelled against the Prime Minister are found false. But, for that, we need to have an independent investigating agency,” they said in a release here on Wednesday.
The release said that the charges levelled against Dr Singh were in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on coal block allocations.
“We want to tell him (the PM) that it was not we who levelled these allegations but the CAG, which is a constitutional body,” the release added.
Senior lawyer, Mr Prashant Bhushan said Dr Singh should have gone through the documents accompanying the ‘chargesheet' before terming them as “irresponsible allegations”.
In a separate statement, Team Anna member, Mr Justice Santosh Hegde, said “It is extremely difficult for me to believe, having seen the Prime Minister all these years, to say that such an allegation could exist. But at the same time, if somebody has said it is in documentary form, I think an inquiry should be held.”
Last week, Team Anna had levelled charges of corruption on the Prime Minister and 14 Cabinet Ministers, seeking an independent probe by a panel of retired judges.
They questioned the role of Dr Singh in the coal scam unearthed by the CAG, as he held the coal portfolio from November 2006 to May 2009.