Coalgate: why CBI adopting different yardsticks, asks court

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Aug 25 2014 | 8:00 PM IST
CBI today faced some searching questions from a special court regarding its investigation in the coal blocks allocation scam case with the judge wanting to know why the agency has adopted "different yardsticks" and not following a "uniform policy" in its probe.
The court was annoyed to the extent that it wanted to know from CBI if it was a "deliberate act or negligent act" by the officials of Ministry of Coal to clear files relating to allocation of coal blocks.
"The problem is that you are firing from the shoulder of the Coal Ministry," Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said while expressing dissatisfaction over the explanation given by CBI.
The judge, who has been appointed by the Supreme Court to exclusively deal with the trial in the coal blocks allocation cases, was irked by CBI's probe in the case involving JAS Infrastructure and Power Limited.
"I think you have agreed on what the accused has said or what the Coal Ministry officials have said," the judge said, adding "you cannot have different yardsticks in different cases. The yardstick has to be common."
The observations came while the court was hearing arguments on the closure report filed by CBI in the case in which it had lodged FIR against Nagpur-based businessman Manoj Jayaswal and others for alleged irregularities by JAS Infrastructure and Power Limited in acquiring the coal blocks.
The remarks, which came hours before the Supreme Court held as "illegal" the allocation of Coal blocks from 1993 to 2010, also mentioned that the investigation was "incomplete" and nothing was clear in the closure report.
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First Published: Aug 25 2014 | 8:00 PM IST

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