Coal scam: MP Darda, three others summoned as accused by court

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda and three others were on Wednesday summoned as accused by a Delhi court which took cognisance of the charge sheet filed against them by the CBI in a coal block allocation scam case. Special CBI Judge Madhu Jain summoned Darda, his son Devendra Darda, Nagpur-based AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd and its Director Manoj Jayaswal for May 23.

"I am summoning the accused for May 23," the judge said. They were named as accused in the charge sheet filed by the CBI on March 27 in which it had alleged that they had fraudulently acquired the coal blocks. They were charge sheeted for the offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) of the IPC and under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

During the proceedings, the CBI sought more time to file reply on the plea filed by AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd seeking its monitoring of the ongoing CBI probe in the case. CBI informed the court that they had done correction in the list of documents filed along with the charge sheet. In its plea filed through advocate Vijay Aggarwal, AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd had claimed that CBI has not probed the matter properly and the charge sheet was filed on the basis of "biased investigation."

CBI, in its FIR lodged earlier, had arraigned AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd, its directors Arvind Kumar Jayaswal, Manoj Jayaswal, Ramesh Jayaswal and Devendra Darda, son of Vijay Darda, along with unnamed officials of the Coal Ministry and other unidentified persons as accused in the case.

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 companies had previously been allocated five coal blocks. Detailing the allocation of coal blocks to AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd, the agency had said the Ministry of Coal had invited applications for allocation of coal blocks, including Bander coal block in Maharashtra having geological reserve of 126.105 million metric tonnes (MMT).

CBI had said that the 36th Screening Committee, which is headed by the Coal Secretary, after concluding its deliberations on July 3, 2008, recommended allocation of Bander coal block jointly to JK Cement Ltd, M/s Century Textiles and Industries Ltd and AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd for their proposed plants in Karnataka and Maharashtra respectively.