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New Delhi: Congress MP
Vijay Darda and 17 senior executives of five private companies
were named by the CBI in cases registered in connection with the
allocation of coal blocks, as agency sleuths raided 30 sites
belonging to them in 11 cities across the country Tuesday.
More companies and people might come under the scanner, a Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told IANS.
The first information report (FIR) registered Monday after three
months of the initial probe named the five firms, their directors
and unknown government officials as having indulged in
misrepresentation and dereliction of duty.
"The CBI has registered five separate cases against certain
private companies, their directors and unknown public servants on
Sep 3, 2012," the CBI said in a release here.
The five companies named in the FIR are AMR Iron and Steel, Vini
Iron and Steel Udyog, Nav Bharat Power, JLD Yavatmal Energy and
JAS Infrastructure Capital. Darda and 17 others have been named as
accused, some of them in more than one FIR.
"The cases have been registered in connection with the allegations
related to getting coal blocks allocated on the basis of
misrepresentations and false claims in the applications,
presentations and connivance or lack of due diligence on the part
of public servants," the release said.
"The promoters of some of these companies have allegedly sold
their stakes in an irregular manner after allocation of coal
blocks," it added.
The cases followed preliminary enquiry by the CBI of the
irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks during the period
2006-09 on the basis of a reference made by the Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC) in June 2012.
"Searches are being conducted today (Tuesday) at 30 locations in
11 cities including Nagpur, Kolkata, Bhilai, Yavatmal, Raipur,
Dhanbad, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, among others," the CBI
said.
"During the preliminary inquiry, we found irregularities against
five companies and registered the first set of FIRs against them.
It may also cover eight to 10 more companies," a senior CBI
official told IANS.
"Further investigation is continuing," the official added.
The searches began in the morning and went on for over six hours.
The CBI, however, did not disclose if they had found any
incriminating documents or evidences from the searched premises.
Among the firms named in the FIR, JLD Yavatmal Energy is said to
be linked to the family of Darda, a Rajya Sabha member from
Maharashtra. It was allocated the Fatehpur East block in
Chattisgarh.
Darda had recently stated that he was neither involved in any scam
nor had any partnership with Union Coal Minister Sriprakash
Jaiswal or Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay on coal blocks
allocations.
Interestingly, the FIR against JLD Yavatmal does not mention
sections under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Apart from Vijay Darda, the FIR against JLD Yavatmal mentions Rajendra
Darda, Devendra Darda, Manoj Jayaswal, Anand Jayaswal, and
Abhishek Jayaswal
The CBI also raised premises belonging to Dhanbad-based Vini Iron
and Steel Udyog which was allotted Rajhara North coal block in
Jharkhand.
The FIR mentioned that the ownership of Vini Iron and Steel
changed hands after the application for a coal block was made.
This firm had also claimed that the Vini group of companies had 15
firms under it, but nine of these have claimed they were not part
of the group, the CBI official said.
The FIR against Vini Iron and Steel names Sanjeev Kumar Tulsyan,
Prashant Tulsyan, Vaibhav Tulsyan, Nisha Tulsyan, Vimal Kumar
Tulsyan, Nirmal Tulsyan, Hemant Kumar Aggarwal, and Navin Kumar
Tulsyan.
The search teams also reached the office of JAS Infrastructure and
Power Limited in Defence Colony here. This firm was allocated
Mahuagarhi block in Jharkhand.
The FIR against JAS Infrastructure and Power mentions Manoj Kumar
Jayaswal, Abhishek Jayaswal and Anand Jayaswal.
The premises of AMR Iron and Steel, which got the Bander block in
Maharashtra, too were searched. Those named in the FIR against AMR
Iron and Steel are Arvind Kumar Jayaswal, Manor Jayaswal, Ramesh
Jayaswal and Devendra Darda.
Nav Bharat Power, which belonged to Hyderabad-based Prasad
Brothers, got Rampia and Dip side of Rampia blocks in Orissa.
The promoters of Nav Bharat sold their stakes in the company to
Essar Power after the coal blocks were allotted to them and in the
process, hiked the price of their personal stakes, while devaluing
the company's share price.
Among those named in the FIR against Nav Bharat are P. Trivikrama
Prasad and Y. Harish Chandra Prasad.
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