CBI files fresh FIR in coal scam

A new case has been registered by CBI against a Madhya Pradesh-based company and members of 36th screening committee in connection with its probe into the alleged irrgularities related to allocation of coal blocks.
The new FIR filed by the agency is in connection with 14 allocations in which CBI has recommended closure of probe but the Central Vigilance Commission(CVC) overruled it and directed the gency to file a fresh FIR.
Supreme Court has also vetted the recommendation of the anti-corruption watchdog in 13 cases and asked CBI to get a fresh view of CVC in one allocation.
Highly placed sources said today that the agency will soon be filing 10 more FIRs in connection with the coal scam.

In its 23rd FIR in the probe, the agency has alleged criminal conspiracy and abuse of official position on part of the company Revati Cements Private Limited, its Directors Umesh Shara, Kailash Shara and Chinmaya Palekar and unknown members of 36th Screening Committee.
The FIR alleged that the company despite being ineligible according to Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion(DIPP) norms was allotted the Thesgora B/Rudrapuri Coal Block in Pench in 2008, CBI sources said.

"It is alleged that screening committee deliberately did not follow the guidelines and showed undue favour to the company. The investigation is continuing," CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said.

The agency had registered a total of three preliminary enquiries related to coal scam allocations between 2006 and 2009, allocations between 1993 and 2004, and projects given under the government dispensation scheme. There are two other preliminary enquiries which are related to missing files.
All the 23 FIRs filed by agency are an off-shoot of three preliminary enquiries registered in the scam.