Five fresh accused in the multi-crore coal scam case were granted extension on their bail on Thursday till May 25. They were named by the CBI in its supplementary charge sheet in the scam, which allegedly involves Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and others.
The case pertains to allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar extended the relief to accused — Jindal Steel’s adviser Anand Goel, Gurgaon-based Green Infra’s Vice-President Siddharth Madra, Nihar Stocks Ltd Director BSN Suryanarayan, Mumbai-based KE International’s Chief Financial Officer Rajeev Aggarwal and Mumbai’s Essar Power Ltd Executive Vice-Chairman Sushil Kumar Maroo. They did so after noting that the CBI had not yet supplied all the documents to them.
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The court also took strong objection to the delay in supply of case-related documents and directed a CBI officer of SP rank to personally look into the matter.
It also directed the SP to remain personally present at every hearing of the case till further orders.
Earlier, the CBI had opposed the regular bail plea of two of the five accused persons — Goel and Maroo — alleging that they tried to hamper the investigation and threatened witness Suresh Singhal in the case.
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The names of these five persons were revealed by Singhal, a chartered accountant, who was earlier charge sheeted by the CBI as accused in the case.
The court had summoned the five new persons as accused after taking cognisance of the supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI on March 24.
Others involved
Besides Jindal, the case also involves former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao and ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda.
The court had earlier asked the agency to expeditiously file its further probe report.
The CBI had alleged that Koda had favoured Jindal group firms — Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL) — in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand.
All the accused had denied the allegations levelled against them and said there was no evidence to show that there was any conspiracy during the coal block allocation process.