NEW DELHI, May 25:
A special court here today granted bail to five accused named by the CBI in its supplementary charge sheet in a coal scam case against Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and others.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar granted the relief to accused — Jindal Steel’s adviser Anand Goel, Gurgaon-based Green Infra’s Vice-President Siddharth Madra, Nihar Stocks Ltd Director BSN Suryanarayan, Mumbai-based KE International’s Chief Financial Officer Rajeev Aggarwal and Mumbai’s Essar Power Ltd Executive Vice-Chairman Sushil Kumar Maroo.
The case pertains to allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand.
The names of these five persons were given by Suresh Singhal, a chartered accountant, who was chargesheeted by the CBI as accused in the case but had later turned an approver.
The court had on April 4 granted interim bail to these five accused persons after senior public prosecutor V K Sharma opposed the regular bail plea of two of the five accused persons – Goel and Maroo – alleging that they tried to hamper the probe and threatened witness Suresh Singhal in the case. The court today noted that the CBI preferred not to arrest the two accused during investigation and had not taken any action on those allegations.
The CBI also told the court that since Singhal had turned approver, no complaints of threats were made by him.
While Madra, Suryanarayan and Aggarwal were granted bail on a personal bond of Rs one lakh and one surety of like amount each, Goel and Maroo were granted the relief on a personal bond of Rs one lakh but with two sureties.
The court warned Goel and Maroo to be cautious, saying “now it is your duty so that no such situation arrives in the case.” The two were earlier arrayed as witness in the case.
The court also pulled up the CBI for “slow process” of investigation in the matter.
The court will now take up the matter on July 10, the next date of hearing.
The court had summoned the five new persons as accused after taking cognisance of the supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI on March 24.
Besides Jindal, the case also involves former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao and ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda as accused.
CBI had alleged that Koda had favoured Jindal group firms — Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL) — in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand.
All the accused have denied the allegations levelled against them and said there was no evidence to show that there was any conspiracy during the coal block allocation process. (PTI)
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