Lobbyist Talwar visited 60 times in 15 months

CBI director Ranjit Sinha, whose alleged meetings with businessmen being probed by the agency has created a storm, allegedly met corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar over 60 times in the last 15 months.

CBI director Ranjit Sinha, whose alleged meetings with businessmen being probed by the agency has created a storm, allegedly met corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar over 60 times in the last 15 months.

On October 23, 2013, the CBI had mentioned Talwar’s name in one of the eight Preliminary Enquiries (PE) it had lodged to probe alleged criminality on the examination of tapes purportedly carrying conversations of former lobbyist Niira Radia and several high-profile individuals including Talwar.

The PE, which mentioned Talwar and Vijay Nambiar, was registered to probe the “alleged presence of touts, middlemen and kickbacks in the civil aviation sector,” said a CBI source. “The named suspects were Niira Radia, Dipak Talwar and Vijay Nambiar and unknown civil aviation ministry officials,” the source added.

Talwar allegedly visited Sinha’s official residence during October to December 2013 and also when the CBI probe was underway, according to the visitors diary at Sinha’s residence. When asked about the issue, Sinha said, “I do not want to talk about the visitors’ diary or its details. I am being fired at from all sides.”

He also refused to react to the reported number of domestic staff employed at his residence including seven cooks, three drivers and a cobbler, according to the affidavit filed by CPIL lawyer Prashant Bhushan. Sinha, who was former chief of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) said, “Some ITBP personnel are deployed at my house for which I am entitled.”