Coalgate: CBI files FIR against five companies

Mangalore Today/ CNN-IBN

New Delhi, Sept 4: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed FIRs against five companies in connection with coal blocks allocation. The companies include Vimmi Iron and Steel, Nav Bharat Steel, JLD Yavatmal and AMR Iron and Steel.

Cases have been registered under cheating, criminal conspiracy against the companies, owners of the companies and unknown officials of the Coal Ministry and state governments.

The agency had questioned senior bureaucrats who were overseeing allocation of coal blocks during 2006-09, sources said. While Nav Bharat Coal Fields is a Chhattisgarh, Vimmi Iron and Steel is based in Jharkhand.

 

The CBI is also carrying out nationwide raids. CBI raids were on at 30 locations in ten cities including Kolkata, Patna, Hyderabad, Dhanbad, Nagpur, Mumbai and Delhi.

The CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) after receiving a reference from CVC. The CBI teams went to Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and examined officials concerned of the companies under scrutiny.

At least 10 companies, which benefited from the coal block allocation, are under CBI scanner for alleged violation of norms, sources said.

The sources had said that the agency is likely to register cases in different batches and nearly eight companies could be booked in the first set.

Meanwhile, the agency is also taking into cognisance the Comptroller and Auditor General report on alleged coal blocks issue which was tabled in Parliament recently.

The sources, however, made it clear that CBI would not be going into policy issues but will limit its role to aspects where criminality could be established.

The agency, on Monday, sought more time from the CVC to submit its status report on its probe into alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation and utilisation.