Coalgate: Ex-ASG Amarendra Sharan appointed as new CBI counsel

Former Additional Solicitor General Amarendra Sharan was on Tuesday appointed as special counsel by CBI to represent it before the Supreme Court in the Coalgate case which saw three senior counsel dropping out on grounds of conflict of interest and other controversies.

Former Additional Solicitor General Amarendra Sharan was on Tuesday appointed as special counsel by CBI to represent it before the Supreme Court in the Coalgate case which saw three senior counsel dropping out on grounds of conflict of interest and other controversies.

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Sharan, who is a senior lawyer, will be assisted by advocate Sanchit Guru in the case which is listed for hearing on Wednesday before a special bench headed by justice RM Lodha.

The appointment of new counsel was necessiated as Additional Solicitor General Siddharth Luthra had withdrawn himself from representing the CBI making him the third lawyer to dissociate from the controversial case.

Luthra had taken the brief after senior advocate UU Lalit dropped out on the ground of conflict of interest, stating that he had earlier represented one of the accused Jindal Group firm in the multi-crore rupees scam.

The ASG had recused after the apex court had asked whether he would be able to raise questions against Centre's decision despite being a government advocate.