Hindalco closure report: Court pulls up CBI over missing file

A special court here Friday pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over missing file related to original minutes of the screening committee meetings which dealt with the Kumar Mangalam Birla-promoted Hindalco's application for allocation of coal blocks in Odisha.

Special Judge Bharat Parashar asked the investigating agency what was the hurry in filing the closure report in the coal block allocation case against Birla and others.

"Where are the original minutes of screening committee meetings, in which Hindalco group application was dealt with for allocation of coal block? Where are its original documents?" the court put it to the CBI.

The Investigating officer of the case exhibited photocopies of the documents related to application form. At this, the court asked whether they had been authenticated by the officials of the coal ministry.

The officer said the documents were seized in the presence of bank officials.

Rejecting the CBI's contention, the court asked what provisions of law prevented it from getting the documents authenticated from the ministry officials. "Can a bank official authenticate the documents of the ministry?", asked the court.

The officer told the court that the original document was missing.

An irked court then warned that it will initiate a preliminary enquiry for losing files of the case.

The court set Sep 22 as next date of hearing.

Earlier during the proceedings, the court asked the CBI to clarify whether element of criminality was involved while allocating the coal blocks to Hindalco.

The CBI booked Birla, former coal secretary P.C. Parakh and others on charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption in the allocation of coal blocks in October 2013.

It filed a closure report in the case Aug 28, saying "the evidence collected during investigation did not substantiate the allegations levelled against the persons named in the FIR".