Citizens' forum writes to CBDT, urges CBI probe into Sahara-Birla payoffs

Justice AP Shah has written a letter to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), urging it to request a CBI investigation into the Sahara-Birla payoff papers. This is the same case in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been accused of accepting bribes during his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister.

Justice Shah, chairman of the Citizens' Whistleblowers Forum, also asked the CBDT to challenge the order passed by the settlement committee, which had granted immunity to Sahara.

Other founder members of the CWF are former SC judge Santosh Hegde, former Navy chief Admiral Ramdas, India's first Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, former bureaucrat EAS Sarma, activist Aruna Roy, scholar Jagdeep Chhokar and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan.

"The documents recovered in the raids on Sahara and Birla Groups ought to be immediately forwarded to the CBI for a thorough criminal investigation since they reveal bribery of the politicians and civil servants by these two groups," the letter said.

Here is the letter in full: