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Six firms to face CBI heat in coal scam

Agency to submit report to CVC in Sept first week
Last Updated 28 August 2012, 19:26 IST

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is expected to register cases against half a dozen companies over next 48 hours for adopting fraudulent means to procure coal blocks.

A senior agency official said separate cases will be registered against the companies.
CBI’s decision to register cases for alleged irregularities in coal block allocation has come 10 days after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in Parliament on August 17, put the presumptive loss to the exchequer at Rs 1.86 lakh crore due to arbitrary allocation of coal blocks.

The country’s premiere investigating agency registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) in June this year after the Central Vigilance Commission forwarded a complaint by BJP leaders Prakash Javadekar and Hansraj Ahir that first-come-first-serve basis was adopted by the government to benefit some private companies.

After the PE or initial probe, the agency registers regular case (RC) if it finds sufficient material to prove prima facie that there has been commission of a cognizable offence.
The CBI is all set to register regular cases against nearly six companies armed with strong evidence of cheating and forgery while applying for coal blocks.

The CBI is scanning 1,422 applications received by the coal ministry from 146 private companies for the allocation of 64 coal blocks between 2006 and 2009.

Agency sources said the CBI will submit a report to CVC in the first week of September.

Coalgate rocks Odisha Assembly

The raging controversy over coal block allocation, which is rocking Parliament, had its echo in the Odisha Assembly on Tuesday with the principal Opposition Congress moving an adjournment motion on the issue, reports DHNS from Bhubaneswar.

Though Speaker Pradip Amat accepted the motion, a debate was not possible as the Opposition and treasury bench members got into a verbal duel over corruption charges against senior Congress MP and former state chief minister Hemananda Biswal.

The Speaker adjourned the house for the day in the afternoon following repeated disruptions. It is not yet known if the adjournment motion would be taken up on Wednesday.

The Opposition, particularly Congress, has been demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik after it became public that the Patnaik himself had written to the Centre  recommending coal block allocation in favour of a private firm.

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(Published 28 August 2012, 19:26 IST)

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