Coal Scam: CBI files chargesheet against Naveen Jindal and Madhu Koda

By NewsGram Staff Writer

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against industrialist Naveen Jindal and 14 others in Amarkonda Murgadangal (Jharkhand) coal block allocation case.

The chargesheet also includes the names of former Jharkhand Chief Minister, Madhu Koda, ex-Minister of State for Coal, Dasari Narayan Rao, and ex-Coal Secretary, H.C. Gupta.

CBI said today that the former Congress lawmaker, Jindal, indulged in a conspiracy with top government officials including Dasari Narayana Rao to hook a coal field in Jharkhand in 2008.

As a part of the inquiry, CBI also raided Jindal's house and offices of Jindal Steel and Power Limited.

Last year, the Supreme Court of India cancelled almost 200 coal fields allocated by successive governments since 1993. The court said that the fields were illegally allocated without indulging in any transparent bidding system.

Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in 2012 that Rs. 1.86 lakh crores had been lost because mining licenses had been circulated to private firms in a process infested with misdeeds.

Since then, the under-priced sales of coal blocks came under the scrutiny of CBI.