Cong alleges scam in coal import, accuses govt of protecting industrialists

The Congress on Monday accused the central government of shielding its "favourite" industrialists in an alleged scam in import of coal worth Rs 29,000 crore and demanded a "fair and impartial" probe by SIT in a time-bound manner.

Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh also took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking why he did not take up the matter with his counterpart in Singapore where the coal import transactions took place.

Ramesh said Modi has met the Singapore PM three times in as many years after the probe began. He also accused Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of being silent on the issue, while remaining vocal on others.

"In October 2014, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) revealed about a scam on coal import and a probe was initiated on the over-invoicing of import of coal," Ramesh claimed