Sanction to prosecute 2 public servants accorded: CBI to court

CBI today told a special court that the government has accorded sanction to prosecute two senior public servants for their alleged roles in a coal scam case.
The agency told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that it can now go ahead with the prosecution of K S Kropha, the then joint secretary in the Ministry of Coal (MoC), and K C Samria, then Director (CA-I), MoC, in the case.
"Investigating Officer (IO) tells the court that the sanction has been accorded by the central government... IO seeks further time to complete the probe," the court said while posting the matter for January 28 for further hearing.

CBI had told the court that the records were sent to the authority in prescribed proforma on August 26 last year, for considering sanction to prosecute Kropha and Samria.
The court had on August 5, 2015, directed the agency to conduct further probe in a case allegedly involving Vikash Metal and Power Ltd (VMPL).
It had asked CBI to conduct further probe in the case saying prima facie "active collusion" was found on part of the public servants for not verifying the claims made by the firm.

The court's order had come in the case in which CBI had filed a supplementary final report on April 7 last year after the court had last year refused to accept the closure report and directed the agency to further investigate the matter.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Moira and Madhujore (North and South) coal blocks in West Bengal to VMPL.
Regarding then Coal Secretary H C Gupta, CBI had said lapses in processing the application were found on his part too but since he had retired from government service, no action was being recommended.
On May 30, the CBI had given its nod to make Singhal an
approver in the case.
The CBI had told the court that investigation was still on and it had recorded the statements of the accused and recovered certain documents. It had told the court that the probe was yet to be completed.

Earlier, the court had allowed CBI to quiz Singhal and further probe the matter before answering his application.
On April 29, the court had ordered framing of charges against the accused for criminal conspiracy, cheating and other offences in Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block allocation scam case.
The court is yet to formally frame charges against the accused.
The court had on May 20 allowed CBI's application to question Singhal on agency's plea that before replying to Singhal's plea for pardon, it wanted to interrogate him to decide whether his assistance could strengthen the case.
Singhal had earlier told the court that he was in possession of various documents and could produce them as and when required.

While seeking pardon, Singhal had sought to make a disclosure statement in the case which was later recorded by a magistrate and placed before the special judge in a sealed cover.
Apart from Jindal, Rao and Koda, the court had also ordered to put on trial former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and 11 others, who were chargesheeted by the CBI in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and GSIPL in 2008.
Besides them, the other accused are -- Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, Directors of GSIPL, Singhal, also Director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, K Ramakrishna Prasad, Managing Director of Sowbhagya Media Ltd and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg. These accused are currently out on bail.

Besides them, five firms -- JSPL, JRPL, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd (formerly known as GSIPL), Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd -- are also accused in the case.