CBI summons ex-coal secretary

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned former coal secretary P C Parakh, an accused in one of the cases in coal block allocation along with industrialist Kumarmangalam Birla, for questioning on Friday.

Parakh, who recently launched his book “Crusader or Conspirator: Coalgate and Other Truths,” however, expressed his inability to appear before the agency on April 25 citing family commitments. “I have asked the CBI to give any date after May 1,” Parakh was quoted as saying by PTI.

Though he had been critical of the CBI filing a case against him, Parakh said that his questioning has nothing to do with the content of the book. “It’s a routine questioning as per the law,” he said.

He was named in the FIR under various sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy and corruption for alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks nine years ago. Parakh was accused of misusing his official capacity to help Birla-owned Hindalco to get coal block in Odisha.