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Five-six more months may be needed to wrap up coal scam probe, says CBI

After more than two years of investigation and tenure of two CBI directors, it seems the country's biggest scam - coal block allocation irregularities which caused a loss of Rs 1.86 lakhcrore to the exchequer - is headed for a denouement during the term of an NDA appointee.

Top sources in CBI told TOI that the probe was nowhere close to finality and the agency would soon inform the Supreme Court that "five-six more months would be required". CBI director Ranjit Sinha demits office in November.

After TOI first reported the scam, CVC had asked CBI to probe it in May 2012 after which then director A P Singh ordered some quick FIRs in allocations where facts had been misrepresented to bag coal blocks. Within months, Sinha joined as head of the agency and registered some sensational FIRs including one against Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary P C Parakh, which was criticized by many. The cases including one against former Congress MP Naveen Jindal, however, have not seen much movement for long now.

BJP, while in opposition, had targeted Congress on the coal scam. With the Narendra Modi government choosing the next CBI director, the agency's future moves would be worth watching.

Sources said they had completed probe in 56 allocations made to public sector companies/state and central PSUs out of 101. In these blocks, CBI has not found any "irregularities" apart from some instances of misuse of coal blocks like sub-letting the mine after allocation or selling coal in the open market. It will be decided in a few months how many of these allocations can be turned into formal cases.

However, in the remaining private allocations, out of 195, the agency has filed 20 FIRs, out of which four have been closed and enquiries pertaining to 40 allocations have not yielded anything substantial.

CBI had registered three preliminary enquiries to probe 195 allocations - from 2006 to 2009, 1993 to 2005 and under government dispensation scheme. Sources say that most of the irregularities were found in private allocations made between 2006 and 2009 so far.

In the public sector allocations, agency sources say that most of the records suggest there were no deviations from the laid down norms and procedures. During its probe, CBI has been analysing reports from the state governments, interested ministries, minutes of the screening committee and forms and documents submitted by the beneficiary companies, the sources said.

The two chargesheets filed also do not mention role of any government official or members of screening committee, who took important decisions of handing over coal blocks.

Agency's top brass has also been trying to downplay the scam by claiming that the "loss figure given by CAG was notional".

The companies booked by agency so far include AMR Iron and Steel, JLD Yavatmal Energy, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog, JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd, Vikash Metals, Grace Industries, Gagan Sponge, Jindal Steel and Power, Rathi Steel and Power Ltd, Jharkhand Ispat, Green Infrastructure, Kamal Sponge, Pushp Steel, Hindalco, BLA Industries, Castron Technologies and Castron Mining and others.

Source: The Times of India