Coal scam: Court ticks off CBI for not supplying documents

A special court on Tuesday ticked off the CBI for not supplying all papers to the accused in a coal scam case, saying it was "creating problems" and directing the agency to provide a 200-page document to them within a time- frame. The court's observation came after advocates representing some of the accused contended that they had not been supplied with an entire set of document filed by CBI in the case. "I am surprised how a complete set of one document running into around 200 pages have not been supplied to the accused," Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said while asking the agency about it.

Responding to the court's query, senior public prosecutor A P Singh said there were three lists of documents which have been filed by CBI in the case. The judge said, "This is creating problems. You file a consolidated list of documents of all the files".

The prosecutor said CBI would file a consolidated list of all the documents in the court and also supply it to accused. He further said it would also provide copies of deficient documents sought by defence counsel by next date of hearing. "You supply the documents as sought by the accused. The consolidated list of documents should be supplied to accused three-four days prior to the next date of hearing so that they may cross check it with documents supplied to them earlier," the judge said and fixed the matter for October 12. The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh to accused firm M/s JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd. Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda and six others, including his son Devendra Darda and former Coal Secretary H C Gupta, are accused in the case.

The court had earlier granted bail to Vijay Darda, Gupta Devendra, two senior government servants -- K S Kropha and K C Samria -- and businessman Manoj Kumar Jayaswal in the case. The court had summoned them for the alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 420 (cheating) of IPC and under relevant provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. It had on last November refused to accept CBI's closure report filed in the case and had directed the agency to conduct further probe into the matter while saying that the Rajya Sabha MP had allegedly "misrepresented" facts in letters written to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was holding the Coal Ministry portfolio.