Coalgate: BJP leader Anup Agarwalla named in CBI FIR

Agarwalla's firm had got coal blocks on June 21, 1996

BJP leader Anup Agarwalla and his firm have been named in one of the two FIRs registered today by CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation between 1993-2005, making it the first case of an opposition party member being named in the multi-crore scam.

The investigating agency registered two FIRs--one against BLA Industries Ltd, its Managing Director Anup Agarwalla and unknown public servants and private persons and second against M/s Castron Technologies, M/s Castron Mining, their directors, unknown public servants and private persons.

Anup Agarwalla, son of former Rajya Sabha MP P K Agarwalla, is permanent invitee to Jharkhand State Working Committee of BJP and special invitee to party's national executive.

Calls and email queries made by PTI seeking response from the firms and Agarwalla did not elicit any response. One of Agarwalla's associates, who answered his mobile phone and identified himself as S K Shukla, said the BJP leader was not available for any comments on the matter.

CBI has alleged in its FIR that BLA Industries, which has its registered office in Mumbai, got two coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh and was selling coal in the open market. The worth of coal being sold in open market was at least Rs 100 crore annually, official sources claimed.

The company had been allocated two coal blocks--Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) in Mahapani coalfields of Madhya Pradesh--for use in power plant to be set up by them, they said.

The CBI alleged that the company entered into an alleged criminal conspiracy with unknown public officials of Coal Ministry and changed its end-use. They later got the permission to sell the coal from the fields in open market from the ministry, the sources claimed.

The firm had got coal blocks on June 21, 1996, during the tenure of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.