CBI probe of C B Bhave to be over by this month

Industrialist Birla and former coal secretary P C Parakh may be grilled soon

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to complete its probe against former chairman of Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi), C B Bhave, by the end of this month.

The agency has been examining the documents regarding the recognition given to the MCX stock exchange in 2008 against the finance ministry recommendation.

The CBI registered a preliminary inquiry against Bhave and former Sebi member K M Abraham on March 13 for which it drew flak from Union ministers P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, senior banker Deepak Parekh and the bureaucrats' fraternity. The agency plans to quiz Bhave later this month.

The CBI noted Abraham had raised the issue of "financial jugglery" by the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in its stake dilution in 2010. But it is probing why no issue was raised from 2008 to 2010, the period of CBI inquiry.

The CBI has also noted that one year after the grant of licence, the MCX was supposed to dilute its stake from 91 to five per cent. In spite of its failure to meet this requirement, MCX's licence was renewed in 2009. Both aspects are being probed. The agency, after collecting enough information, would approach Bhave for "his side of the story."

Besides, the agency is planning to call industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary P C Parakh this month for questioning regarding the allocation of the Hindalco coal block. The CBI has been asked by the Supreme Court to wind up all coal-related probes in a month. A CBI official said the probe in this First Information Report (FIR) was in advanced stages.

Last month, the agency had sent a questionnaire to T K A Nair (advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) who sent replies. The questions included those on coal policy and allocation of coal blocks when the prime minister was in charge of the ministry between 2006 and 2009. The replies were sought on delay in auctioning of coal blocks, missing coal files and events leading to the Talabira coal block being given to Hindalco in which, Parakh and Birla, Chairman of Aditya Birla Group, have been named.