CBI registers two fresh cases in coal block allocation scam.

 

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday said that it has registered two fresh cases in the coal field allocations scam. 

 

A case has been registered against Central Collieries Co. Ltd, Nagpur, and unknown public servants, while another has been registered against promoter-director of Prakash Industries Ltd of Delhi and unknown public servants. 

 

Searches were conducted at three places in Nagpur and one in Mumbai in the Central Collieries case. In the case of Prakash Industries, searches were conducted at three places in Delhi, and one each in Jangir and Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, a CBI spokesperson said. 

 

Allegations in the Central Collieries case are those of forgery, criminal breach of trust and selling of coal in the open market against the concept of captive allocation of coal mines for a specified end-use product. In the Prakash Industries case, the charges are those of misrepresentation of net worth while applying for allocations, the spokesperson said. 

 

Spokespersons for both companies could not be reached for comment.

Prakash Industries was awarded the Chotia coal field in 2003 and parts of the Madanpur (North) and Fatehpur blocks in 2006 and 2008, respectively. All these fields are in Chhattisgarh.

Central Collieries was awarded the Takli-Jena-Bellora coal field in Maharashtra in 1998, but this allocation was cancelled in 2003.

 

CBI is investigating allocation of captive coal fields between 1993 and 2010 as part of a Supreme Court-monitored probe.

 

The investigating agency also filed a chargesheet against Vijay Darda, a Rajya Sabha member of Parliament belonging to the Congress party, his son Devendra Darda and Manoj Jayaswal. Vijay Darda is also the chairman of Lokmat group, which publishes a Marathi newspaper. 

 

All of them are directors on the board of AMR Iron and Steel Pvt. Ltd.

This is the second chargesheet filed in the case so far.

AMR was awarded the Bander coal field in Maharashtra in May 2009. 

 

On 10 March, the CBI had filed charges against Hyderabad-based Navabharat Power Pvt. Ltd and two company officials, P. Trivikrama Prasad and Y. Harish Chandra Prasad.

Navabharat Power is owned by Essar Power. 

 

A Delhi court will consider the chargesheet against Navabharat Power on 2 May, the Press Trust of India reported on Thursday.

 

The apex court had on 10 March given the CBI until 28 March to file six chargesheets it had sought to file in the case, declining to give the agency more time. 

 

The agency on Thursday also filed a closure report in the cases relating to Vikas Metals Pvt. Ltd and Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Pvt. Ltd.

 

Coalfield allocations came under the scanner in August 2012 when the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) submitted a report in Parliament alleging a notional loss of Rs.1.86 trillion due to wrongful allotments. It also alleged that the blocks were awarded in an opaque manner

RANJAY KUMAR,
PGDM 2nd SEM,
SOURCE-: MINT