BackCoal scam: CBI files probe report, says sanction issue pending
CBI told the court that they had sought information from the coal ministry regarding the status of request sent for L.S. Janoti
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New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday filed before a special court a report on its further probe in a coal scam case allegedly involving Rajya Sabha member Vijay Darda, and said the grant of sanction to try a public servant, who has since retired, was pending before the Union coal ministry.
The agency told the court that they had sought information from the coal ministry regarding the status of request sent for accord of sanction to prosecute L.S. Janoti, who has since retired as an under secretary in the ministry of home affairs. It said that the director (vigilance) of the coal ministry has informed the agency that the issue was pending before his ministry.
The agency told special CBI judge Bharat Parashar that as Janoti has retired and the competent authority has not refused to grant sanction to prosecute him, there was no bar in taking cognizance against Janoti for his alleged role in the case. The court after perusing the CBI report, fixed the matter for consideration on 16 July.
CBI had earlier told the court that they have approached coal ministry, where Janoti was posted earlier, to ascertain the status of its request for sanction to prosecute him. The court, in its 30 January order, had observed that former minister of state for coal Santosh Bagrodia, ex-coal secretary H.C. Gupta and Janoti had allegedly committed criminal misconduct and facilitated AMR Iron and Steel Pvt. Ltd to unlawfully obtain a coal block.
It had asked CBI to further probe the case in which the agency has chargesheeted Vijay Darda, his son Devendra Darda, AMR Iron and Steel Pvt. Ltd’s director Manoj Jayaswal and the firm, as accused. In its order, the court had observed that Bagrodia, Gupta and Janoti had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with private parties in the allocation of Bander coal block in Maharashtra to AMR Iron and Steel Pvt. Ltd.
The court had earlier granted bail to Vijay Darda, Devendra and Jayaswal after they had appeared before it. Darda has denied the allegations against him. The court, in its 30 January order, had said that only Janoti was still in active government service and prior sanction of the competent authority was required to prosecute him for offence punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Regarding Janoti, the court had observed that he had allegedly prepared a “misleading note" on the issue relating to coal block allocation which, in the overall facts and circumstances, appeared to be a deliberate move on his part to benefit AMR and its directors.
The chargesheet was filed against the accused on 27 May last year for alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code and under the provisions of PCA. Regarding AMR Iron and Steel Pvt. Ltd, CBI had claimed in its FIR that the firm, in its application form for allocation of coal blocks, had ‘fraudulently’ concealed the fact that its group firms had previously been allocated five coal blocks.
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