Plea in SC to 'free CBI from govt clutches'

Senior journalist Vineet Narain has requested the Supreme Court to free the CBI from the clutches of the government by providing for a stronger Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

Senior journalist Vineet Narain has requested the Supreme Court to free the CBI from the clutches of the government by providing for a stronger Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

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On Narain's PIL in the Jain hawala case, the SC in 1997 had given a landmark judgment that conferred statutory status to the CVC and gave it superintendence over its corruption probes.

In the middle of the raging controversy over CBI director Ranjit Sinha's meeting with union law minister over the coal block allocation probe status report, Narain has requested the court to review the situation and issue further guidelines.

"It is not an intervention petition. I have submitted that the CVC Act should be amended to provide for a 5 to 7 member commission which could broadly assume the role visualised for the Lokpal ," said Narain.