BJP leader faces CBI case in coal scam

The CBI on Wednesday registered two more cases in coal block allocation scam, including one against a BJP leader Anup Agarwalla and his mining company, involving an opposition party member for the first time in the cases of irregularities.

The two cases pertain to the alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation between 1993 and 2005, which came to light following a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit.

With this, the CBI has registered 16 cases in the allocation of coal blocks. The 14th FIR against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and his company had triggered a controversy as it was flayed by the corporate and political leaders alike. Agarwalla, the Managing Director, and his company BLA Industries were named along with unknown public servants and private persons in the first FIR while in the second, Castron Technologies, Castron Mining, their directors, unknown public servants and private persons were named.

Agarwalla is the son of former Rajya Sabha MP P K Agarwalla and an invitee to Jharkhand State Working Committee of BJP and special invitee to party's national executive. He could not be contacted for his reaction.

The CBI alleged that BLA Industries got two coal blocks -- Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) -- in Madhya Pradesh's in Mahapani coalfields and was selling coal in the open market. The firm had got coal blocks on June 21, 1996.