Seeking nod to prosecute official in coalscam: CBI tells court

CBI today told a special court that it has sent the necessary records of a coalscam case to the authority concerned for considering grant of sanction to prosecute a Ministry of Coal (MoC) official for his alleged role in the matter.
The agency's move came after the court on January 30 had said that former Minister of State for Coal Santosh Bagrodia, ex-Coal Secretary H C Gupta and MoC official L S Janoti had allegedly committed criminal misconduct and facilitated AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd to unlawfully obtain a coal block.
"It is submitted by the senior public prosecutor that the necessary relevant records have been sent to the authority for considering according sanction to prosecute public servant involved. Accordingly, put up for March 31," Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said.

CBI had earlier apprised the court that administrative approval was obtained for sending records to the competent authority for considering grant of sanction to prosecute the public servant for his alleged role in the case.
The court, in its January 30 order, had asked CBI to further investigate the case in which the agency has already chargesheeted Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devendra Darda, Director of AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd Manoj Jayaswal and the firm, as accused.
It had noted that Bagrodia, Gupta and Janoti had allegedly entered into a conspiracy with private parties in the allocation of Bander coal block in Maharashtra to AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd.

The court had also said that out of these three persons, only Janoti was still in active government service and prior sanction of the competent authority was required to prosecute him for offence punishable under Prevention of Corruption Act.