The CBI affidavit confirmed that the changes were made in report on Coalgate scam by Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati, officials of Prime Minister’s Office and Coal Ministry.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court in a fresh affidavit submitted on Monday that the PMO, Law Minister and Coal Ministry had ordered some changes in the report.
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The agency gave details of March 6 meeting which was attended by the Ashwani Kumar, Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati, Joint Secretary in the PMO Shatrughna Singh, AK Bhalla of the Coal Ministry and Joint Director of the CBI OP Galhotra. The affidavit said that the changes were proposed by PMO and Coal Ministry.
However, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha also claimed that only the draft status report was shared with the political executive and the Attorney General and not the final status report.
The fresh affidavit was filed before the apex court following the order on April 30. The court wanted to know why it was not disclosed that the March 8 report was shared with the government. Why CBI Counsel on March 12 said that this report was not shared? Besides the Law Minister and two Joint Secretaries, was the report shared with anybody else? Were any changes made in the CBI status report? At whose instance the changes were made? Is the Law Minister entitled to call for such a report? Does it not show erosion of the trust that the court has shown in CBI?