Coal scam: Court allows Naveen Jindal to travel abroad

Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal, accused in a coal block allocation scam case along with 14 others, was today allowed by a special court to travel abroad from June 14 to June 29 for business purposes.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar allowed the plea filed by Jindal seeking the court's permission to go abroad.

Jindal was earlier granted bail by the court which had imposed several conditions on him, including that he will not leave the country without the court's nod.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Jindal told the court to clarify that no advocate had approached the judge earlier in the matter.

The submissions by Jindal's counsel came in the wake of the court's June 1 observation in which the judge had warned the accused of such misdemeanours in future after it came to light that one of the accused associated with the Jindal Group firm had allegedly tried to approach the judge.

The judge clarified that it was not a lawyer who had approached him in connection with the case.

During the hearing on June 1, senior advocate Hariharan, who appeared for Jindal, had told the court that the Jindal Group management has taken a strong note of the issue and promised the judge that such a behaviour will not recur.

According to a court source, the accused had allegedly tried to approach the judge after which the court had cautioned and warned him that he would take action if such an attempt was repeated.

Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja, Director of Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL), are among the other accused in the case.

The judge had told the lawyers appearing for all the accused that it has "again happened" and he will mention about it in the case record.

"I am very sorry to say that with such senior lawyers appearing in the case, I had not expected that it would happen," the judge had said without disclosing the identity of the accused who had approached him.

The court had fixed the matter for scrutiny of documents filed by the CBI on June 30.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to two Jindal group companies, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).