Court summons Jindal in coal scam case

The CBI on Tuesday filed another chargesheet against former Parliament member Naveen Jindal and five others in connection with alleged irregularities in the Urtan North Coal Block allocation in Madhya Pradesh.

Taking cognizance of the chargesheet, the court issued summons to Jindal, four individuals and the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) company, asking them to appear before it on September 4.

The company will be represented by an authorised official.

Public prosecutor V.K. Sharma and A.P. Singh told the court that there was enough evidence against the accused to initiate further proceedings.

The four individuals, besides Jindal, accused in the case are JSPL's advisor Anand Goel, Executive Director of raw materials, D.N. Abrol, the then Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Vikrant Gujaral, and former Director (Finance) Sushil Maroo. They too were chargesheeted.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has chargesheeted all six under sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to criminal conspiracy and cheating.

The probe agency said in its chargesheet that during investigation it was revealed that the JSPL and its office-bearers misrepresented before the screening committee facts pertaining to land acquired for its Patratu project in Jharkhand and orders for equipment placed for its Angul project in Odisha, as on December 8, 2007, and obtained the coal block.

The CBI alleged that the accused cheated the Ministry of Coal and got a "wrongful gain and pecuniary advantage".

--IANS

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