BackCoal scam: CBI files FIR against Jayaswal Neco Industries
The company is alleged to have mined coal beyond the approved quantum from Gare Palma IV/4 coal block in Raigarh
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New Delhi: Sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided four premises in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra on Friday after filing a first information report (FIR) against Jayaswal Neco Industries Ltd and unknown public servants in the coal block allocation case.
“Searches are being conducted at two places in Raipur, one place in Nagpur and one place in Raigarh," a CBI official said.
CBI is investigating government allocation of captive coal fields between 1993 and 2010 as part of a Supreme Court-monitored probe. The FIR—initial police complaints on which an investigation is launched—is the 20th in the case.
The company is alleged to have mined coal “beyond the approved quantum from Gare Palma IV/4 coal block in Raigarh," the CBI official said. The company “allegedly consumed the coal irregularly in captive power plant," he added.
Company executives could not be reached for comment despite several attempts.
Jayaswal Neco, part of the Neco Group, which is controlled by businessman Manoj Jayaswal’s family (father Bansi Lall Shaw and his sons Arvind and Ramesh), was awarded the Gare Palma-IV/4 coal block in Chhattisgarh in August 1999.
Jayaswal himself is a director on the board of another company, AMR Iron and Steel Pvt. Ltd, which too has been probed by the CBI in the alleged coal scam.
In March, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against AMR, in which, besides Jayaswal, it had also named Vijay Darda, a Rajya Sabha member of Parliament belonging to the Congress party.
Coalfield allocations came under the scanner in August 2012 when the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) submitted a report in Parliament alleging a notional loss of ₹ 1.86 trillion due to wrongful allotments. It also alleged that the blocks were awarded in an opaque manner.
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