Prem Chand Gupta, Rajya Sabha MP from Rashtriya Janata Dal and former Corporate Affairs Minister in UPA-I, has been booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation along with his son in connection with the coal block scam. The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the allocation of a Maharashtra block to IST Steel & Power Limited.
“The prime allegation is that while applying for the coal block, the company had deliberately inflated its net-worth to Rs.100 crore. The misrepresentation was for meeting the criteria. Mr. Gupta and his son Gaurav have also been named as accused,” said a senior CBI official.
Considered to be a close aide of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mr. Gupta was earlier in 2012 accused by the BJP of having links with IST Steel and Power that had been allocated the Dahegaon Makarad coal block in June 2009. The coal block was de-allocated by the Coal Ministry in September 2012.
Back then, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya had also submitted documents to the CBI purportedly showing that Mr. Gupta was one of the directors in Hong Kong-based Gupta International Investment Company that held 49.95 per cent stake in IST Steel and Power.
However, Mr. Gupta had then denied that he had any role in the allocation stating that he was a Minister only till May 2009, a month before the accused company was allocated the coal block.
The CBI has so far registered 24 cases in connection with the alleged irregularities in the coal block allocations between 1993-2004 and 2006-09. On the recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commission, the agency would register nine more cases in which there was earlier a difference of opinion on sufficiency of prosecutable evidence between the investigating officers and their supervisors.
