File progress report in coal case, court tells CBI

A special court hearing a coal block allocation case, allegedly involving former Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal, on Thursday directed the CBI to file the final progress report on the investigation.

Special Judge Bharat Parashar said the report on further investigation cannot be filed piecemeal by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

"Report of further investigation cannot be filed piecemeal and all these lists of witnesses or documents or articles should be filed along with the final report on further investigation as and when completed in accordance with the provisions of law," the judge said in his order.

The court returned to CBI the list of supplementary witnesses and documents and asked it to file them along with the final progress report.

The court fixed November 16 for the next hearing.

Former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda are also accused in the case.

The court directed the CBI's Investigating Officer to submit a written communication to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) authorities to expedite its report as the case trial was getting held up.

The IO said though further investigation was almost complete, a report on the hard disk and some documents sent to the FSL was awaited. He said he had asked the FSL officials to expedite the report.

In April, the court said there was prima facie evidence against Jindal, Narayana Rao, Koda and others in the case related to the allocation of Jharkhand's Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Gagan Sponge. However, the accused denied the charge.

The CBI, in April 2015, filed a charge sheet against Jindal, Koda, Rao and ex-Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, Jindal Realty Director Rajeev Jain, Gagan Sponge Directors Girish Kumar Juneja and R.K. Saraf, Sowbhagya Media's Managing Director K. Ramakrishna and others.

Five private companies -- four based in Delhi and one in Hyderabad -- were also named in the charge sheet.

They are Jindal Steel and Power Ltd., Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt. Ltd., Jindal Reality Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi Exim Pvt. Ltd. and Sowbhagya Media Ltd.

--IANS

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