The Aam Aadmi Party has demanded the immediate resignation of the Prime Minister, following media reports that the Government had vetted the status report on the coal allocation scam before it was filed by the CBI in the Supreme Court.
“This brazen interference in the Coalgate investigation by this Government in an investigation being currently monitored by the Supreme Court shows the desperation of this Government and requires the immediate sacking of the Law Minister and the Attorney General, apart from officials of the Prime Minister’s Office. In fact, it requires the resignation of the PM himself,” a release by the party said here on Saturday.
AAP, headed by activist-turned politician Arvind Kejriwal, said in the last hearing held on March 12, lawyer Prashant Bhushan had made the plea that since the investigation of the ‘Coalgate’ scam involved inquiring into the role of Prime Minister and other Cabinet Ministers, therefore CBI would not be able to investigate into it independently. The petition had been filed on behalf of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation and Common Cause.
“The CBI had filed the status report the previous day of the hearing. On this, the court observed that we hope that the CBI is not sharing the reports with the Government. On this, Attorney General Vahanvati representing the Government, stated that even he had not seen the status report, what to say of the Government. Interestingly, the court asked the CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to file his own affidavit stating that the status report has not be shared and would not be shared with the Government,” AAP alleged.
Alleging dilution of the status report, the AAP said media reports do not mention the reported fact that the Attorney General was himself present in a meeting at the Law Minster’s office, where the report was said to have discussed and diluted.
“Also, what this report does not mention is the fact that the DIG of the CBI who was in-charge of this investigation, Ravikant, was transferred out of the CBI soon after the last hearing was held in the Supreme Court.”
AAP reiterated its demand for making CBI independent of the Government by placing it under an independent Lokpal.