Coal scam: Court fixes May 2 for considering chargesheet

A special court here will May 2 consider the first chargesheet in the case against Navabharat Power Pvt. Ltd. and its two directors in the alleged wrongful allocation of coal blocks.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had March 10 filed its first chargesheet in the case and named the Hyderabad-based private company and its two directors - P. Trivikrama Prasad and Y. Harish Chandra Prasad - as accused in the case.

Special Judge Madhu Jain on Thursday posted the consideration of the charge-sheet to May 2.

The accused have been booked under various sections dealing with cheating and criminal conspiracy.

The CBI has not added graft charges against the accused, but in the FIR lodged Sep 3, 2012, it had booked them under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI said that to "embellish its claim for allocation of coal blocks", Navabharat Power Pvt. Ltd. had "fraudulently" claimed it had the required net worth to get the coal mines.

The agency added that its inquiry also revealed that officials of the coal ministry in pursuance of criminal conspiracy, wilfully and purposefully, did not scrutinise the documents regarding the false claims/concealment of facts by the company.