CBI to record statement of PM's advisor T K A Nair

CBI sources said agency will soon call Nair to record his statement as witness in connection with alleged irregularities in the allocations made during 2006 to 2009

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will record the statement of T K A Nair, advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in relation to the coal block allocations scam, according to sources in the investigative agency.

It has also asked former coal secretary H C Gupta to join investigations intothe case.

CBI has also questioned former officials in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) who had held positions between 2006 and 2009, including 1987-batch IAS officer Vini Mahajan, the then director in the PMO, and 1989 batch UP cadre IPS officer Ashish Gupta, the then vigilance officer.  

Gupta, who recently resigned as member, Competition Commission of India (CCI), is likely to be questioned on the procedure and reasoning followed by the selection committee in allotting the coal mines. CBI would also question Gupta on the delay in the auction policy and the amendment made in the Mines and Minerals Act.

It was during Gupta’s tenure in 2008 that Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron were allotted the Amarkonda Murgadangal block in Jharkhand. CBI had recently registered an first information report (FIR) against Congress MP Naveen Jindal and the former minister of state for coal, Dasari Narayana Rao, along with five private companies, including JSPL and Gagan Sponge Iron. Rao and Jindal are facing charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

This is the twelfth FIR filed by CBI in the case. Its investigation is covering companies which got coal blocks between 2006 and 2009. CBI has also named “unknown officials” of the screening committee in its FIR.

CBI had drawn the ire of Supreme Court for sharing its draft status report with former law minister Ashwani Kumar and two joint secretary level officers of PMO.