Hidden hand controlling Bhushan's mind: Ranjit Sinha to SC

Backed by Central Bureau of Investigation, its former Chief Ranjit Sinha on Monday alleged in the Supreme Court that a "hidden hand" was a "controlling mind" of lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who has showered against him barrage of charges for purportedly interfering and scuttling the probe into coalgate.

His denial and refusal to respond by way of affidavit to the allegations which Sinha termed as "incredible" and "ghost" came after the agency said that Bhushan, who is appearing for the NGO, Common Cause, was settling personal scores and quietus must be given to the matter which was not only hurting the institution but also demoralising it.

They were responding to the plea by the NGO that in view of the allegations which were substantiated by the surfacing of the entry register at Sinha's residence showing that he was meeting the high-profile accused in coalgate mulitple times including at midnight warrants probe by Special Investigating Team (SIT) instead of the CBI.

Rubbishing the allegations, Sinha's senior counsel Vikas Singh alleged that the file notings placed by Bhushan to substantiate charges against former Director was in violation of the apex court's two orders of 2013 and 2014 which had called that no document relating to the matter has to be shared with anyone and as such it was not only the violation of its orders but his action was also in contravention of the Offical Secrets Act.

Taking the line of the CBI, his counsel also said that as the chief of the agency, Sinha never overruled the unanimous stand of his subordinates on the issue of prosecution and there was a need for probe as to how a Mumbai-based newspaper published the contents of the entry register of his residence and came out with a story that it was going to be placed in the apex court by Bhushan, who himself confesses that a whistle blower handed him that late evening before the story came out.