NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Coal Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary Monday termed as "baseless and malicious" the allegations levelled against him by senior CBI officer M K Sinha, saying he would quit politics if they were proven to be true.
The internecine feud in the CBI turned murkier as Sinha Monday dragged the names of Chaudhary, NSA Ajit Doval and CVC K V Chowdhury over alleged attempts to interfere in the probe against CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana, who was divested of his duties and sent on leave along with his boss.
Sinha, in his plea in the Supreme Court, alleged Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Babu Sana, who was the complainant in the case against Asthana, said during interrogation that sometime in the first fortnight of June 2018, a few crores of rupees was paid to the Union minister.
The Union minister, in a statement, said he did not know the businessman.
"Certain absolutely false and baseless allegations have been made against me. I neither know, nor have I met Mr Sathish Babu Sana, who is alleged to have paid me a bribe," he said.
"I only came to know from various media reports today that an affidavit has been filed in the Hon'ble Supreme Court mentioning this matter. I condemn this malicious attempt to malign my reputation. I welcome any enquiry into this matter and the law should take its own course. If I am proven guilty, I am willing to leave politics," he said.