india

Updated: Dec 07, 2015 20:28 IST

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered its registry to hand over the original visitors’ diary of former CBI director Ranjit Sinha’s official residence to a court-monitored panel probing whether his alleged meetings with the 2G and coal scam accused amounted to interference with the investigation.

The visitors’ log book is lying in a sealed cover with another bench hearing the 2G cases. A three-judge bench headed by Justice MB Lokur said the diary should be given to former CBI special director ML Sharma, who is heading the probe team.

The bench, also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and AK Sikri, said its order directing the panel to complete the probe within 12 weeks, shall come into operation once the documents are received

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the former CBI director, reiterated his stand that the alleged meetings alone cannot “per se” be termed objectionable as the real test would be whether those meetings led to according of favours.

The court had on May 14 admonished Sinha for his “completely inappropriate” meetings with the coal scam accused in the absence of the case’s investigating officer. It had said a further inquiry was necessary to ascertain the fairness and impact of his conduct in the coal scam probe.