Coalscam: CBI officer faces tough time in identifying accused

A senior CBI officer, who had conducted searches at the residence of Jharkhand Ispat Pvt Ltd (JIPL's) director R S Rungta, facing trial along with others in a coal scam case, today faced difficulty in identifying the accused before a special court.
CBI's Additional SP S N Khan, who appeared in the court as a prosecution witness, initially failed to identify R S Rungta in the court room which prompted the agency's prosecutor to cross-examine him.
During his cross-examination by the prosecutor, Khan said the accused was present in the court room and told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that with "due passage of time", he could not recollect certain facts correctly or identify R S Rungta initially.

"At this stage, accused R S Rungta present in court today has been shown to the witness (Khan) and witness has identified him to be the same person who met him at the house and also accompanied them to the office premises (of JIPL) and was also the person to whom the authorisation letters were shown and copies of the two search list were handed over," the court noted.
"It is correct that with due passage of time, I could not recollect certain facts correctly or the identity of R S Rungta initially," he said.
Khan told the court that on March 11, 2013 he along with a CBI team had conducted searches at the residence of R S Rungta and JIPL's office in Ranchi in connection with the case.

When the witness said that Rungta was present in his house when the CBI team reached there, he was asked to identify the accused who was present in the court room.

"At this stage, witness was asked to identify accused R S Rungta, if present in court today, and upon looking around the court room the witness stated that R S Rungta is not present," the judge noted.
Khan deposed that during search operation, certain documents relevant to the coal scam case were recovered.
JIPL and its two directors, R S Rungta and R C Rungta, are facing trial in the case in which they have been accused of securing allotment of North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand allegedly on the basis of false and forged documents, a charge refuted by them.