The Central Bureau of Investigation will file a charge sheet in one of the 16 coal block allocation cases registered since September 2012. The same day, the agency has to file a status report in the Supreme Court on the progress made in connection with the overall probe in the alleged scam.
“At this stage, we cannot reveal details of the case in which we are going to file the charge sheet. Through the status report, we will inform the apex court about the developments,” said a senior CBI official.
During the last hearing, on February 11, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to file a status report on six of the cases in which the probe has been concluded.
While the apex court had earlier asked the agency to file the charge sheets by the first week of March in all the cases in which investigations were completed, on March 4 the CBI sought more time.
While investigations in connection with 38 companies under scrutiny have concluded, the agency has also finished conducting enquiries into alleged role of 38 other companies. Ground enquiries in 149 firms have also been conducted. The agency has set its target for finalising the probe in the alleged scam by April 30.
Based on three preliminary enquiries, the CBI initiated investigations into 195 coal blocks allocations made between 1993-2005 and 2006-09.
Two other preliminary enquiries were also instituted into the missing files. However, since the agency has not yet come across any criminality against the government officials who handled those files, they may soon be closed.