Coalgate scam: Dasari Narayan Rao to be charged

New Delhi: A special CBI court on Friday ordered framing of charges against industrialist Naveen Jindal, former MoS for coal Dasari Narayan Rao and 13 others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and other offences in a coal block allocation scam case.

Apart from Jindal and Rao, the court also ordered to put on trial former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, former coal secretary H.C. Gupta and 11 others, who were chargesheeted by the CBI in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Private Ltd (GSIPL) in 2008.

Sowbhagya MD too accused in coal scam
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said, “Charges to be framed against all accused under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with 409 and 420 of IPC and under sections 13(1)(c), 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.”

The court, however, said charges would be formally framed against the accused later on. 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. These accused 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 also said that a facade of companies was prima facie created as a smokescreen to cover up the illegal act of paying off Rs 2 crore to former MoS for Coal by Jindal in lieu of favouring his two firms by securing allocation of a coal block in 2008.