Law minister removed section critical of PMO, CBI to tell SC

"No substantive changes were allowed by me�we preserved the basic structure of the report and to the best of our ability we have protected the integrity of the investigation." New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to tell the Supreme Court on Monday that the agency's status report on coal scam was changed by Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, reported CNN-IBN. The details of the CBI affidavit, which it will submit in the Supreme Court on Monday in connection with the coal scam, has been accessed by the channel. CNN-IBN says that the CBI has made it clear in its affidavit that the status report was shown to the Law Minister and he had ordered the removal of a paragraph which was critical of the PMO. The investigating agency will also tell the apex court that Ashwani saw the report in the presence of two Joint Secretary-level officers. The earlier affidavit, filed by the investigating agency, also blames the CBI counsel for misleading the court by saying the report was not shown to anyone. The Supreme Court had last week slammed the CBI for sharing the status report on Coalgate with the government and said it had "shaken" the entire investigation process. The apex court had vowed to "liberate" the agency from political influence and interference. The head of the CBI, Ranjit Sinha, who has been alternately praised and criticised for his affidavit in the apex court, has maintained that he was summoned by the Law Minister who wanted to see the report on March 5. However, in an interview to a news daily, he has defended the showing of the report to the minister and other officials saying that the Supreme Court had never laid down any conditions saying the report could not be shown to the government. "No substantive changes were allowed by me�we preserved the basic structure of the report and to the best of our ability we have protected the integrity of the investigation. The quality of our investigation is good and we have not removed any suspect or accused from this status report," he said. In his earlier affidavit filed on April 26, Sinha had said, "I submit that the draft of the same (status report) was shared with Law Minister as desired by him prior to its submission before the Supreme Court. Besides the political executive, it was also shared with one joint secretary level officer each of Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Coal as desired by them," the affidavit said. Sinha said the facts will speak for themselves "as there has been no attempt to mislead the court by the CBI. Let's refrain from making any judgment on the changes and leave it to the Apex court which will take a view on that." He said this was only the first status report in the matter and that in future no report on the progress of the coal scam probe would be shared with the government. -- CNN-IBN