New Delhi: CBI is likely to question Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal on Friday in connection with a case of alleged cheating and criminal conspiracy in bagging Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Birbhum in 2008.
The agency has booked him in its 12th FIR in connection with coal blocks allocation scam registered in June this year. Former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao has also been booked by the agency in the case. Highly placed sources said in New Delhi on Thursday that notices have been issued to Jindal to appear for questioning in connection with the case.
No immediate reaction was available either from the company Jindal Steel and Power Limited or Naveen Jindal as messages and emails remained unanswered. They said Jindal is likely to appear for questioning on Friday but maintained that no date has been fixed so far.
During its probe into the scam, it was for the first time the then Minister of State was named as an accused in an FIR by CBI in which it was alleged that he had received Rs 2.25 crore camouflaged as investment from one of Jindal's firms within a year of allocation of a coal block to him.
CBI sources said Jindal Steel and Power Limited and Gagan Sponge Iron Limited, also a Jindal firm, had bagged Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Birbhum, Jharkhand in 2008 by alleged misrepresentation of facts when Rao was the Minister of State for Coal. Reacting to the FIR, Head of External Affairs, JSPL Manu Kapoor had said, "JSPL, as a law abiding company, is governed by a strong ethical code of conduct.
This is an ongoing CBI investigation into coal block allocation. At this stage of investigation, JSPL is committed to fully cooperate with CBI." CBI has claimed in its FIR that the misrepresentation was allegedly done on three counts--land, water supply and previous allocations.
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