Mining a scandal

In 2008, news reports appeared on how the Anil Ambani group wanted to set up a steel plant in Jharkhand and Niira Radia, lobbyist for rivals Tata group and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd, raised the issue with the editor of a leading business daily. At the centre of her outrage was the fact that Anil Ambani would be allotted an iron ore mine even though he did not have a steel plant . That taped conversation is now the basis of a Supreme Court order for an inquiry by the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the ministry of mines. But five years after the media reports, neither has a steel plant come up nor was an iron ore mine allotted to the group. But the phantom has been created, so, the CVO may need to set up an inquiry on what exactly he needs to probe.