Demanding that the Congress led UPA should reveal why the Prime Minister is not being questioned and an FIR not lodged on the “stolen” coal block allocation files, the main opposition BJP on Wednesday accused the government of trying to sabotage the investigation into the issue. The party also maintained that it was “constrained” to believe that the documentary evidence in terms of files “has been made to disappear.”
In a statement issued, both the leaders of the Opposition — Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley — referred to a newspaper report which quoted a CBI official stating that the PM “requires to be questioned” as he held the coal portfolio from 2006-09.
“The coal block allocation scam is becoming murkier and murkier.... The consequence of this (CBI official’s demand) is critical to the investigation. A substantially large number of files/documents/applications connected with the coal block allocation scam have disappeared. The documentary evidence is missing,” the two leaders said in their joint statement. The party maintained that in such a scenario where “documentary evidence has disappeared”, CBI will have to depend on the oral evidence which includes examination of those likely to be in the know of relevant facts.