Coal scam: CBI grills Abhijeet group Chairman

CBI today confronted Chairman of Abhijeet group Manoj Jayaswal with documents submitted by his companies at the time of applying for coal blocks as it continued his questioning.

Unlike yesterday when four members of Jayaswal family were questioned together, the agency today grilled Manoj alone for nearly eight hours about his association with Lokmat Group led by Congress MP Vijay Darda, ILFS and other such companies, CBI sources said.

They said the agency is also scrutinising documents provided by Jayaswals in their defence.

The sources said Manoj was also asked about his meetings with Coal Ministry officials but he remained defensive on this front.

While Manoj, owner of Abhijeet Group, has been named by CBI in three cases of alleged irregularities in coal block allocation made to AMR Iron and Steel, JAS Infrastructure and JLD Yavatmal Power, his brother Arvind has been named in a case against AMR Iron and Steel.

The other family members -- Anand and Abhishek -- have been named in cases against JAS Infrastructure and JLD Yavatmal Power.

In the three cases in which the Jayaswals figure, the CBI has slapped allegations of cheating and misrepresentation of facts to grab coveted coal blocks against the companies.

The CBI in its investigation has found that the companies have allegedly given wrong information in their applications claiming they were not in possession of any coal blocks and inflated their net worth to show eligibility for them.