New Delhi, April 29
A special court today ordered framing of charges against industrialist Naveen Jindal, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao and 13 others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and other offences in the coal block allocation scam.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said, “Charges are to be framed against all accused under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 409 and 420 of the IPC and under Sections 13 (1)(c), 13 (1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.” The charges will be formally framed later.
Apart from Jindal and Rao, the court ordered that ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, former Coal Secretary HC Gupta and 11 others be put on trial. They were charge-sheeted by the CBI in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the allocation of the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Private Ltd (GSIPL) in 2008.
The other accused are Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, Directors of GSIPL, Suresh Singhal, Director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, K Ramakrishna Prasad, Managing-Director of Sowbhagya Media Ltd and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg. They are currently out on bail. Five firms — JSPL, Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd (formerly known as GSIPL), Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd — are also accused in the case. The court issued a notice to the CBI and 14 accused on a plea by Suresh Singhal for pardon and for turning approver.— PTI