A special court on Friday set December 22 as the date for consideration of a charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda; the former Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Basu; the former Coal Secretary Harish Chandra Gupta; and five others in the alleged illegal allocation of coal blocks to a private company.
The accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code and under two sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The charge sheet was filed before Special Judge Bharat Parashar on Thursday.
The accused include Basant Kumar Bhattachariya, then section officer, Mines Department, Jharkhand; Bipin Bihari Singh, Director (Mines), Government of Jharkhand; Vaibhav Tulsiyan, promoter of Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd.; and Vijay Joshi, a private person.
Senior public prosecutor V.K. Sharma told the court that sanction had been obtained to prosecute Mr. Bhattacharya and Mr. Singh, who are still in service.
The coal blocks are in Rajhara town of Jharkhand. The investigating agency lodged an FIR in September 2012.
PTI adds:
The CBI’s move to charge sheet Koda and others in the case came after the court on September 5 had “returned” its charge sheet filed earlier, saying the agency has failed to give any plausible explanation on its queries.
The case pertains to allocation of coal blocks to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd. in Jharkhand’s Rajhara town in which its directors and unknown public servants of the Ministry of Coal, Government of Jharkhand and others were made accused in the FIR lodged by the CBI in September 2012.
CBI had registered the case under sections 120-B read with 420 of IPC and under various provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act against Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd, its directors — Sanjeev Kumar Tulsyan, Prashant Tulsyan, Vaibhav Tulsyan, Nisha Tulsyan, Vimal Kumar Tulsyan, Nirmala Tulsyan and Hemant Kumar Aggarwal.
Besides them, Navin Kumar Tulsyan, a chartered accountant, along with unknown officials of Ministry of Coal and Jharkhand government and others were also named as accused in the FIR.
In its FIR, CBI had alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of coal blocks, including Rajhara North (central and eastern) coal block in Jharkhand having geological reserve of 17.09 MMT.
It had said initially Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd was not having recommendation of either the Ministry of Steel or Jharkhand government but the then Jharkhand chief secretary, who had attended 36th Screening Committee meeting on July 3, 2008, had signed minutes of the committee which had recommended allocation in favour of the firm.
CBI had alleged that Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd had fraudulently claimed an inflated net worth and the ownership of the firm too had changed hands during the intervening period of the 36th Screening Committee.
CBI had registered the case under sections 120—B read with 420 of IPC and under various provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act against Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd, its directors —— Sanjeev Kumar Tulsyan, Prashant Tulsyan, Vaibhav Tulsyan, Nisha Tulsyan, Vimal Kumar Tulsyan, Nirmala Tulsyan and Hemant Kumar Aggarwal.
Besides them, Navin Kumar Tulsyan, a chartered accountant, along with unknown officials of Ministry of Coal and Jharkhand government and others were also named as accused in the FIR.
In its FIR, CBI had alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of coal blocks, including Rajhara North (central and eastern) coal block in Jharkhand having geological reserve of 17.09 MMT.
It had said initially Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd was not having recommendation of either the Ministry of Steel or Jharkhand government but the then Jharkhand chief secretary, who had attended 36th Screening Committee meeting on July 3, 2008, had signed minutes of the committee which had recommended allocation in favour of the firm.
CBI had alleged that Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd had fraudulently claimed an inflated net worth and the ownership of the firm too had changed hands during the intervening period of the 36th Screening Committee.
