Coalscam:examining if documents are relevant to case, says CBI

CBI today informed a special court here that they were examining whether some of the documents, which were sought to be inspected by the accused in a coal scam case, were relevant to the matter or not.
Special public prosecutor R S Cheema told the court that they need some time to file a reply on the plea filed in this regard by the accused.
"It has been submitted by special public prosecutor R S Cheema that the documents whose inspection has been sought for are being examined as to whether they are of any relevance to the present case or not and thus he seeks some time to file reply in this regard," Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said.

The agency told the court that copies of some deficient documents sought by the accused earlier would be supplied to them today itself.
After hearing the submission, the court fixed the matter for October 29 for filing of reply by CBI as well as arguments on the pleas moved by the two accused.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Rampia and dip side of Rampia coal block in Odisha to M/s Navbharat Power Pvt Ltd (NPPL), now known as Brahmani Thermal Power Pvt Ltd (BTPPL), in January 2008.

Besides former Coal Secretary H C Gupta, two senior public servants, K S Kropha and K C Samria, BTPPL's chairman, P Trivikrama Prasad and its vice chairman Y Harish Chandra Prasad are accused in the case along with the firm. These accused are now out on bail.

The court had summoned the accused for alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) and 420 (cheating) of IPC and under Prevention of Corruption Act.
Kropha was the then Joint Secretary of Ministry of Coal (MoC), while Samria was then the Director (Coal Allocation-I section) there.
CBI had earlier filed a charge sheet against NPPL, P Trivikrama Prasad and Y Harish Chandra Prasad for alleged criminal conspiracy and cheating under IPC and had subsequently said in its final report that no offence was found to have been committed by the public servants.