Ex-minister Ray, five others summoned in coal block case

A court here on Monday issued summons to former union minister Dilip Ray and five others as accused in a coal block allocation allegedly involving Castron Technologies Ltd.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Bharat Parashar issued summons to Ray, who was minister of state for coal in the then NDA government in 1999, along with additional secretary, coal, Pradip Kumar Banerjee, then advisor (projects) in the coal ministry, Nitya Nand Gautam, company Castron Technologies Ltd, its director Mahendra Kumar Agarwalla and firm Castron Mining as accused in the case.

Ray is the first minister of the NDA government who has been summoned as an accused in a coal block allocation case.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Brahmadiha coal block in Giridih in Jharkhand to Castron Technologies Ltd in 1999.

The court summoned them after taking cognisance of the charge sheet.

The accused were charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating, and criminal breach of trust under the Indian Penal Code and under the relevant provisions of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

The court has directed them to appear before it on February 26.