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Coal scam: CBI chargesheet against Naveen Jindal, Madhu Koda and 13 others

The CBI Wednesday filed a chargesheet against former MP Naveen Jindal, former MoS for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao and former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda in connection with the 2008 Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block allocation case.

The agency, in the chargesheet filed before special judge Bharat Parashar, has booked Jindal, Rao, Koda and 12 others under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) of the IPC and 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption act.

Those chargesheeted include former coal secretary and chairman of 35th screening committee H C Gupta, Gyan Swaroop Garg, Suresh Singhal, Rajeev Jain, Girish Kumar Juneja, R K Saraf and K Ramakrishna Prasad. The companies that have been chargesheeted are Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL), Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt. Ltd.
The special court will take up the charge sheet on Thursday.

Reacting to the development, a JSPL spokesperson said: “We are shocked to know from the media about filing of a chargesheet by CBI with respect to allocation of a coal block. The said allocation was made to the company on merits… We have full faith in our judiciary.”

The chargesheet alleges JSPL and GSIPL, both owned by Jindal, of furnishing incorrect information to acquire the coal block.

On the role of former MoS Rao, CBI alleged that its probe revealed that companies of the Jindal group had bought shares of Rao-owned Sowbhagya Media Ltd at Rs 100 a piece against the quoted price of Rs 28. In its FIR, the agency also alleged that the Jharkhand government had at first recommended the allocation of the coal block to three companies—Lanco Infratech Ltd (40 pc), JSPL (30 pc) and M/s GSIPL (30 pc). However, it later recommended the block to only JSPL (70 pc) and GSIPL (30pc). It also alleged that Rao had written to screening committee’s chairman on July 27, 2007 in favour of the Jindal firms.

source: http://indianexpress.com