Download 1 - Central Bureau of Investigation

WIDENING PROBE 

CBI to investigate all coal 

panies 

a teeter 'So, 

written by seven partianaenrariana 

atthoetgh the 

2004 be netmbcr of block 

investigated. 

allocations on 

greta-party led United Progreaaive 

Alliance 

dunn of anonymity, Withtn 

demanding an Investigation 

of all coal block we wilt register a fresh many an In the 

a lutocks altpcated nay tled be 

That would cover the coal' 

as of non-performance and 

(UPA) have week, 

atlocatiotis 

fields allocated 

later period, the could 

in 1998-2004, been under 

cancel the allocations of 

scrutinysince the 

ainee 

PE (preliminat-y enquiry) 

0993 to the when 

and level nf processing was not 

the Bharari an as 

ya 

many as six others. 

Janala Party-ltd 

National Democratic period. It basis 

Comptroller and Auditor on the 

General 

start 

CR!. 

investigation. This wit' go leigh aa in the later 

Alliance 

of recommends tions 

oilntlta said in are portreleased 

side by 

Ott 5 September, the 

aide with the current was only Congress 

party lok 

after Ihe 

(NDA) 

Electrictly 

was in power, 

made by an 

in August that auclialorations 

had 

osinistetial 

investlgation into seven 

Sabba members 

iii- 

(first information reports) 

FIRs Aceof 2tttta that lice 

and in 1996'O$, when power eec, group (IMG) that a coali 

is looking 

caused lie 

Sandeep Dikshie, Hatish tion called the registeted 

'or caw private sector interest, tab 

United Front 

lie isaste. 

tional exrhequerabaa of lBe 

Chaudhttry, tavneet us iii ens) Shagta, 

altocalons 

tnade berseeen 20{16 

Coal proresa too have gone 

culed the country, The 

op The IMG is set to fleet again 

Con' teillron. 

ChOudttary t,at Singts, Manicka 

and only etnce then,' 

gross party lost the 

he eaid. 

1996 

In the second week of October 

general 

We have received a lelter 2009 

Tagore and Raghuvir Singh 

A 

election and returned to from the 

Meena weote to the eve rod nitnistry official, 

to decide on tha fate of blocks 

IMoladay) 

and P 

the Another CRC oflictal tntle speaking ott rondinon of 'no allotted to 

2004. 

aakitg us to probe 

goveromeot'owned 

allocation pendensty conftxnteci the 

coal ministry thai 

de nymily, said that 

'locks Coat block a copy of the 

- 

otnpan 

allocations 

its where no develop' 

made of coal block a since 1993, a veiopment. 

allotted 

letter had beet, 

between 1993 

forwarded to itletit has 

and doritag tOte rule 

taken 

oF the Con senior Cl3l official so far. 

said on con 

Jr appears that there were the miniatry, which, in turn, sa/lil.m@s/ivemiet,cora 

many cases 0! malpractice 

while allocating coat blocks 

' been sent to the eve on 19 

September. 

betweetu 1993 to 2004, Funher, According to information 

Inmany cases whecc join teentestes 

available on the coalministry's 

have been furrne d beeween 

website, between 0 August 

block allocations rorporat' 

1993 and 6 December 2005 69 

since 1993 

ona and private parties coal blocks were allocated. 

there It informaeionthat many On 4 September the Cot 

of these were done through favours 

booked rates against five com- 

lot isepected irregular- 

to certain parties and 

under 1>5)11 teat pressure and ities in tho conteoreraisi at location 

The agency says at 

least 50 additlonal 

of dial blocks and con- 

due diligencewat nor followed 

in selection of partners by 

raids in II cities. On 22 

state government corporaejotta,' 

September, the agency registered 

companies could be 

the letter written by the 

Congress 

partiansenearian cases against Iwo more 

cornpnies, 

probed as part of 

aaid. 'Ct, therefore, 

appears Cases of criminal conspiracy 

the investigation 

that alt coal blocks allotted sod cheating had been rs'gisrere 

since 1993 thosttd be investigated 

d against Viol Iron and 

by the specially Steel tidyogLid, lasinfrastruc 

CIII 

looking 

By SAHIL MAKKAR & 

lure Capital Psi. 

at 

AMAN MALIK 

Liii, AMR iron 

iyatenia 

through 

The govt has 

and Steels Psa. 

New tiTList 

wlttrh state 

Ltd. Ill) Yavat. 

Tie Central Bureau of governmenle 

In.. 

cancelled at least 

ssextigaoion (Cal). which 

selected private 

otnpa- 

block allocations op Power Fyl. Lid, 

7 mal itotergy Lid, 

Navahba,ai 

is probing alleged irregularities 

in oh c atlocacithi of 

nice whose 

aunitofthe Es 

coal blocks to private names 

co{atpaniet 

they grounds of 

tar Group, 

between 200g and 2009 

fonearded to 

non-performance Grace lodus 

said it would extendoheinvestigatinn 

govecnnaene 

tries and Vikash 

of India.' 

Metal and 

to companies that 

have been allotied blocks 

They alleged 

Power Ltd. The 

that starting in 1993. 

ova were among compsole a 

aotnr companies 

The CDI said at least 50 additional 

companies could be 

presanre during 2006.09, when ttrime 

may have been favoured undet that were allotted coal blocks 

political 

- 

probed as pare of the widened 

Arvittd Mahalan, aparinera Minister Manmohan Singh 

iits/esolgatlon. 

tcI'MG itt India, saul the perceptlon 

also held charge of the coat 

The decision follows the Under 

Is that the lark SCuthr. 

ol rflinlstty 

AceordtnQ to infoomoijon toooifoble on tho cool nit strys'enile, (i 

Central Vigilance coat Macb were 

Commisason allocated between 10 Attguoi 

(cVC) transparency was higher in the Ttae g 

December 20(15. 

overntnent has already 

earlier on Monday forwarding 

period of allocation. cancelled at least seven coal

9 C, 24 fPw 

fln 

all 

MNTt I UT 

________ 

11TR 

___ 

jt 

3T kW1,143 trfkaft *w 

*M 

* Ikift 195 IQii 

aiiafni "1993a3Mi511 

tmiifii 

___ 

Si TV 195 cli ëITi 

1993 ji3Tlftf 3111 tPItN 

iisft 44c11 .#tafle7 

4ciiti 

ir ig4k 4ig'lg 4ftftT 

Ht " 

71f1315T31tt& * 

(41cTh&.fl) ll ';w 

" 

TR ft tll flaIT 3TfIE ft3lT 

'1diI* TlWf 3I 191 

wFwfli IlWtcT 

,4,iei 

' 

aiit~r 

ii 

___ 

ll 'MI'l*I 1t tft 

ti *ajtflltfl flmt 

ITTallk 

Hflq,l S pq 

nt 

___ 

(IRli( i 

fttaii 

tpft 

tll 

ath 

fiR 'R*il flaij qw 

iift_iti4iir, iizki 

fli r1 

7 IWf 13 wii 

'iilkifti QVII(IR 

tl4ft*3ll iiilq, flaßl 14T31T31V 

tiIft wiO aiSn'nt i 

W4ftftm3llf 

gci'lii, "11l lfißftf kiirHel 

alm9 '4iieig, ~rn iiQi4 

a4ri 1k'Ii 

*11 5' r4t ai 

___________ 

67 qgir T1~1' awicripnizuSi 

%fwfli itir 

liGk t 

f vi 44i41 simrft 

rit ratt 

af 

IrzlT Si l3lltqi'lPllsi

11d1a11z*U&I piie lÄt9ait9t aiioici FdlyD, 2006 cvkmi iiiieitj JYelaikißm eiEi'p. 

_____________ 

-. 

r r.i tt itfl.irtrv nr r 

"*m 

flr 1 

IA Stz4i 

193 

___ _______ 

2Ot 

r snffiaa anitntr 

‚iq*Q ftT% 

- 

3RT 

a3fIW3WRtMIIfJF 

4 

1 

fll993fltePftt 

aryin 

tTn~ 

ft 

fr rafri 

tqiiflifl . ist'ftflg 

___________ 

__________ 

in un a-v& in ail 

Id Id iv« 

9tiZlfirnrW c t-fl* ki t 

rgl a t **lor *aiiuifl

iicc'i'hMsl4ltjiizi 

I ____ 

I 

____ _ 

4 

___ 

___ - 

1993 2004 c 

t ajTh%r 

Ri%it 

I 

3 

41'I'Ictw'IM, 

I 

* 

gitpirfl 

M'till 

* 

* 

Riq,'R 

zii 'vi 

ffui 

I *t*ft jI* 

I. 

3t341S 

fli I 

tifi v 

* 

9TQU1T1993t20Q4 I 

M1993ü2Q04 

itgiTO 

......................................................................................................... 

I

3lltjlM 

Nt 

(9t)l 311*- 

9 i94g,'1 ft *fmiz 

ftrr c4.t H1 

t T. 5 

'1'1I'1l 

NIN9T am 

9NTRI[4ST*I

Arrested IT Officer Colluded With. 

AbhishekVerma To Buy Goa Property 

CBI finds web of cos through which Verma holds a beneficial interest in Nitya Resorts 

in Mumbai, along with arms deal According to a person familiar agency already knew most of the 

SRUTHIJITH KIC 

- er Suresh Nanda, his son Sanjeev withthe investigation, the CIII has details in Allen's communications. 

NEW DELHI 

LL-.iLi Nanda, and their chartered ac now found a web of companies in Ashutosh Verma, the I-T official, 

A senior income-tax department countant Bipin Shah. Verma was Delhi Kolkata and Agra through was introduced to Edmonds Allen 

officer, arrested by the Central Bwr b.andllng the Income-Tax depart which, Ashotosh Verma holds aby Abhishek. Ashutosh Verma 

reau of Investigation in 2008 foral ment's case against the Nandas, beneficial interest in a company wanted to setup a company in the 

legedly accepting a bribe from who were at the time being probed TalledNltya ResortsPvtLtd,which US as a subsidiary of the Indian 

arms dealer Suresh Nanda, used by the CIII for bribing government owns a large beachfront plot in company Geiper Consultmg FyI 

his links with jailed defence agent officials and accepting commis Morjlm, Goa, estimated to be now Ltd to help the latteravoid tax. His 

Abhishek Verma toset upacompa slons in the sale of Barak missiles worth more than !15 crore. Verma wifePallavi Verma andfatherRam 

ny overseas and used a network of and Armoured Recovery Vehicles alsopurchaseda2-bedroomviilajn Naval Verma are 100% shareholcompanies 

to invest in property in to India. cm intercepted phone Goa in the name of his father, the ders in Gelper Consulting, a 

Goa, a person familiar with the in conversations that led them to be personsaid.! knowledge process outsourcmg 

vestigation said. 

-. lieve that Verma was being bribed Many of 

- . 

Verma's buslneEg*tt4r company, accordmg to filings with 

Armed with the breakthrough in by the Nandas to fudge entries in—ests were revealed by New YoFk the Registrar of Companies. 

the four-year-old case, this person their books that were in the IT de based attorney c Edmon4s Allen; A trail of email exchanges besaid 

the agency Is now moving to partment's possession. the erstwhile_business 

- - 

partner of tweenAshutosh, Abhlshek and Alfile 

a charge sheet. Earlier this Out on bail after spending eight jailed defence agentAbhlshekVer len show that Ashutosh wanted 

month, the to 

CBI sought the finance months in jail in 2008, Ashutosh ma. The dossiers of evidence sent set up aUS subsidiary for Geiper 

mInistry' sanction to prosecute Vermawas reinstatedtoser-vice as by Allen to! Indian authorities Consultinginordertoavoidpaylng 

Ashutosh Verma, a joint cominis the CIII failed to file a chargesheet helped Initiate a CIII probe against a highamountof taxfor remunerasionerin 

theI-Tdepartment, in the case. The agency could nel Abhishek Verma on charges of tion paid to the company's agent, 

Verma, a 1999-batch Indian Reve ther establish a money frail nor forgery bribing of a public official one Sanjay Pant, in the US, and 

nueServiceofficer, wasarrested in discover where Verma had parked and violation of the Official Se route business to theIndian entity 

March2008 from.1W MarriotHotel the alleged bribe. crets Act. A CIII official said the through the US firm.

Lt 

cbft *U31Tt ik 

1tk 

t k4lttjitO 1IctgI R! R* 'II it nn 

t t ti I 

iflflt9*tnlnjtt Wttaiiit 

TttfRfTsMfltTa*,Tti 

iiti ____ 

____ 

q'uii 

(5Q)4q4* 

__________ 

___ 

gftp iqi 

t415*f * 

___ 

1kvfl;T 

á 

* 

ft 

rn 

flflfltt4'.vit 

Mft1T *c eiiqg 

q.1ritc it 4 

flRT5jflr dii 

*4taii tr vc 

vmtfliiimr ia4j 

qr

THE ASHOK AGGARWAL 

SAGA MOVES ON 

The IRS officer Äshok Aggarwal first made die newspaper 

headlines in 1999 with the arrest of the arms dealer 

and jet-setting Delbi socialite Abhishek Verma, i son of 

the Raiya Sabhci MP Veena Varma, for tryiig ta trap a 

Delhi jeweller Subhash Barjatya in a Forelgn Exchange 

Regulation Act case. Allegedly Aggarwal bad attempted 

to extort Rs 10 million from one of die owners of Dabur 

Industries. A Dabur owner had videotaped Aggarwal's 

men collecting the money. 

In 2002, after die finance rhinistry sonctioned Agarwal' 

prosecution, die CRI charged hirn in two cases. In the 

first, Aggarwal faces allegations In a FERA case of being 

part of a criminal conspiracytblackmail Barjatya on the 

basis of forged Swiss Bank documents. In tbc second, die 

CRI alleged that the IRS officer had arnassed disproportionate 

assefl to the tune of Rs 

1 2.04 crore. In die case, 

die CBI bus alleged that the accused official entered into 

o crirninal conspiracy with bis twa brothers and some chartered 

accountants and amassed huge wealih und assets 

dlspropgrtionate to his known sources of income. 

The CRI has alleged that Aggarwal Inested In properties 

In Ghazidbad, Bahadurgarh and die World Trade 

Centre in the capital in die name of bis wife und created 

several trusts whose beneficiaries were bis minor children. 

The CRI had arrested Aggarwal an 19 October 2000 

along with bis brotber for allegedly omassing dispraportionate 

assets. He is alleged ta own about 20 apartments 

und bungalows in Delhi, at least twa comrnercial 

» 

office premises in die World Trade Tower, New Dcliii, und 

numerous other properties. Despite severat complalnts 

agaiS hirn, Aggarwal was appointed private secretaryby 

Rairam Singh Yadav, die minister for mines in die 1' V 

Narasimha Rao government.

-A' 

Probe coal block-allocation 

- 

since 1993, CVC tells CBI 

j. 

- - - ing 

- - 

-: 

- - - -'. 

- 

NEW DELHI: The CentralVig-unknownofficials of the mdiilanceCommission(CVC)on 

.. -_ 

Mondayasked the CIII, prob 

- 

awarding licences for exploring 

coal block allocations 

- 

made during 2006-09, to ex 

_ 

tend its investigations to cover 

all allocations made since 

- - 

an Bureau of Mines while 

minerals in the sea bed of 

Bay of Bengal and Arabian 

, sea. 

Itis alleged that four benefi- 

: ciaries companies owned by 

1993,saidagencysources. .i' \' 

The country's top anti-cor 

' %: " the family members ofan mdiruption 

authority had already - , " 

an Revenue Serviceofficer are 

tasked the CBIwithprobe into : c also under the agency's scanthe 

allotment of coal blocks j -' 

- ncr as they bagged nearly half 

made between 2006 and 

of 

-',--' , 

the blocks despite lacking 

2009. 

- 

L 

, necessary qualification, they 

"The CVC asked that the 

said. 

agency investigate the system estimated undue benefits of The sources said in March 

adopted bystategovernments R5,1.86 lakh crore to private last year, the government, ina 

during allocation of coal firms due to allocation of coal first attempt to explore offblocks. 

The criteriaand select blocks without auction. shore mineral wealth, had 

ed guidelinesfollowed during 

placed 62blocks onoffer outof 

the allocation must be Probe in offshore mining which 28, nearly half, were 

probed' a sourceadded. Meanwhile, the CBI has also bagged by companies owned 

The investigation agency begunprobing alleged irregu by family members of the forwas 

also asked to find out the larities in the country's firstr merEnforcement Directorate 

system put in place forselec ever attempt to explore un official who had also served in 

tion of companies for coal tapped mineral wealth worth Mines Ministry. 

block al!ocation between 1993 thousands of crores lying in The final award of licences 

to 2006, whether these guide the deep sea bed, sensing an had been put on hold after aglines 

were followed and how other mega scam, grieved parties approached 

jointventure partners werese CBI sources said a prelimi the Bombay High Court and 

lected. nary enquiry has been regis the Andhra Pradesh High 

Official auditor, the Comp tered by the agency inconnec Court seeking their cancellatroller 

and Auditor General tion with the alleged favours tion. 

(CAG) had, in a recentreport, extended to the companies by Agencies

47 d1dhu'4*a1sfl 

Ô1IIU1CIaUft 

rt fffo4ioi *lit 

'311*1t* iiar 

ziifti 

S 

F341 31M S 

1a41U4t1 

i ($1faR)*_ 

151 kIN Tfl 

wkirt2010 

" 

____

CBI probes offshore 

mining licence scam 

P11 .NewDeIhi 

Just a week afterfilingcases in 

coal block allocation scam, 

CBI has begim probing alleged 

irregularities inthe country's 

first-ever attempt toexplore 

untapped mineral wealth 

worth thousands ofcrores 

lying In the deep sea bed, 

sensing another megascam.

**T __I 5ft9 Zt W, Z9T*$I* 

fl RR 'flint atg 'i191 11 1Z11 *i iiiic 

11'IftT 3-IT# PIfMT ftT 3t 

1J 

2011 

aaa slmR waI fl%wft8t t 

T 'iM r att 

mrti ai 

* NtTlftlfl 

i'ftnni 

IMflqI tp 

__ 

i* 

___ 

- ____ 

pit Thrt 1*4Zl *mi-nr 

n rst 

M ItdI 

ti*rtt t7T&kTI iii4 tnflqj t t*qI -1 NI 

Wktfruftir 

ir ht nt* tv ____ 

ziilWi 

w311ti %W '31Mtbfl a1vTlft3 

s.sflo 

&t 

I *_'_al NiSi 4 ti 

w' atit it t& aifri 

50 fRI 

t

Probe all coal block 

allotments since 

1993, CVC tells CBI: 

LENS ON NDA GOVT 

Directive after Jaiswal, 

7 MPswrotetoCVc 

ACliNG 

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE 

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER24 

on a Central Vigilance Cornmission 

(CVC) reference, the CDI has 

decided to expand its probe into the 

alleged irregnlaritiesincoal blocks ãotment to 

include all allotmentsmade since 1993. 

The ongoing CDI probewasrestricted to allotments 

during2006-09. CDI officials said the 

agency would soon register a preliminaryenquiry 

(PE) on the CVC reference received 

Monday, and question government officials 

and privatefirms which got coal blocks. 

Last week, 

Coal Minister Sriprakash 

Jaiswalwrote tothe CVC seeking a CR1 probe 

into all coal blocks allotted since 1993 when 

the government began allotting blocks to pri- 

players for captive 

vate 

use. 

Jaiswal also recently forwarded a letter 

written by seven MPs to the CVC saying 

blocks allotted between 1993 and 2004 should 

be investigatedby the CBIas favours were atlegedlydone 

to private parties under political 

pressure. 

The MPs' letter also sought an inquiry into 

thesystem put inplace to select companies for 

allotment between 1993 and 2004 andwhether 

these guidelines were followed. The CVC 

Monday referred thecomplaintsto the CDI. 

The allotment of coal blocks for captive 

use started in 1993 to attract private investments 

in power, cement and steel to help a 

growing economy. 

"Till March 2011, the Ministryof Coal has 

allocated 194 coal blocks for captive miningof 

which 142wereexploredblocks," the CAG said 

initsreport on the allotments. 

Arbitrary'grant of 

62 offshore mines" 

under scanner 


NEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER24 

SUSPECHNG serious irregularities,the CBI 

has registered a preliminary enquiry into the 

allotment of62offhoremining blocksby theIndianBureau 

of Mines(IBM) last year. The allotments 

made to 16 companies for grant of 

theoffshore explorationlicenceswas donein an 

"arbitrary" manner by the IBM, says the FE 

registered lastFriday. 

The CBI suspects the 16companiesselected 

did not have the required technical capability 

and amajorityofthem wereregistered and incorporatedafterthe 

IBM issued its notificationfor 

allocation in June2010.The FE also alleges that 

there had been "cartelisation" inthe process. 

CBI officers said the cart elisationallegation 

referred to a group of five companies 

whichhadbagged 28 of the 62 oil exploration 

blocksandwere ownedbyimmediaterelatives 

ofa suspendedIndian Revenue Service (IRS) 

officer against whom the CBI has registered 

othercases. 

"Many of the selected companies have 

shown themselves as a part of a group of companies 

promoted by the same directors and 

wereregisteredat the sameaddresswhich also 

points towards applicants having resorted to 

cartelisation to corner most of the exploration 

blocks," says the FE registered against unknown 

public servants of IBM and other unknown 

persons/companies. 

I1MINES SECRETARYJUMPS GUN ON GOA 

REPORT, IS SHOWN THE DOOR, PAGE 16

'Rahul case based on 

a non-existent claim' 


NEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER24 

CONGRESS leader Rahul 

Gandhi Monday told the SC 

that theallegationof hisrole in 

an abduction and rape case in 

Amethi was "sinister political 

mudslinging". 

"Itis a clëarcase ofsinister 

political mudslinging and contempt 

of processofcourt. Such 

a petition deserves tobe dismissed 

with cost only and 

hencethe Allahabad I-ICorder 

imposing a cost on the petitionerwascorrect," 

senior advocate 

PP Rao, appearing for 

Rahul,toldthecourt. 

Rao said the petitioner, 

formerSP MLAKishore Samrite,was 

neither afriend of the 

victimnoiarelative. 

Meanwhile, the UP government 

also filed its affidavit 

refuting Sanirite's charge that 

he had filed the case against 

Rahul at tk behest of CM 

Aichilesh Yadav and SPchief 

MulayamSingh Yadav. 

The allegation was not levelled 

before the HC and its 

"object was to scandalise the 

issuesoastogaincheappublicity 

and to advance his political 

objectives", the affidavit said. 

The CBI also adduced its 

report ofits investigation,carried 

out as per the HC order. 

The CBI told thecourt that the 

case ofalleged ifiegalconfinementof 

thegirl and her parents 

was found tobe based on"nonexistent" 

claims since the 

names and addresses of these 

personswerefalse. 

The CBI also said Samrite's 

petition was funded by 

"some others". It said thewebsites 

which Samrite relied on 

forinformationontheincident 

and for filing his petition were 

located outside the geographicaltenitoryofthecountiy. 

The court will continue to 

hearthe matter tomorrow.

CBI begins probe : 

into 'sea-bed miiiij 

press thast of India 

CM sources said a pre1iminiriinqijjrhabejj 

NEWDEWJ, 24 SEfl:Just aweek 

Aer filing cases in the coal block 

ilocation scam, the CBI has 

begun prthing alleged irregularilies 

in the country's first-ever 

attempt to explore untapped 

SneraFwSth worth thousands 

crorcs Iing in the deep sea. 

bed, sensinganother mega scam. 

Cs! sourcçs said a preliminary 

inquhy has been registered by 

the agency in connection with 

the alleged favours extended to 

the companies by the unknown 

Slicials of the Indian Bureau of 

limes while awarding licences 

fir exploring minerals in the sea 

bed of the Bay ofBengal and the 

Arabian Sea. 

It is alleged, hir benefidazies 

immpanies owned by the family 

members of an Indian Revenue 

StMce officer are also under the 

scanney as they bagged 

andy half of the blocks despite 

beking necessary qualification, 

they Slid. 

The sources said in March lasi 

tai the government, in a first 

*empt to expIoreohore mini 

aal wealth, had placed 62 blocks 

cm oflèr out of which 28, nearly 

halt were bagged by comjaI*s 

owned by-family members of the 

krmer Enforcement Dhtctojate 

.411d4 who had alsb'served hr 

1k Mines Ministzy. 

The final atrdoflicenceshad 

ken put on hold after aggrieved 

parties approached Bombay 

High Court and Andhra Pradesh 

High Court seeking their cancellation. 

The companies allegedly 

owned by the son and the brotha 

of the officer are based at the 

same address on Kasturba 

Gandhi Marg In New Delhi, they 

said. 

were 

initiated by the agency in connectionwith the 

alleged favours extended to the companies by 

the unknown officials of the Indian Bureau of' 

Mines whileawarding licetices for exploring for 

minerals th the seabeds of the Bayof Bengal aid 

It is alleged that companies 

incwporated after bids 

were invited from the interes(ed 

parties willing to go fix exploration 

and thØ nothave any experience 

in SPshore mining at the 

time of notification. The .Cfll 

sources sal it is a matter of 

probe how thesecompanies with 

suchalleged lacunae managed to 

scoreoverSal firms which were 

in fray for the lucrative contracts. 

According to sources, it has 

been alleged that at tle screening 

committee level, the companies' 

belongingto the kin of the officer 

scored much above the rival 

" Indian &ucau of Mines, th 

works under the Ministry of 

theArabjansej 

Mines; had announced in March 

last tar the list of companies 

that had swm the bids of exploratidn 

of mineralwealth. 

Howevet the Nagpur Bench of - - 

Bombay High Court had stayed 

the exten Jon after accepting the 

plea of the Tamil Nadu-based 

company Rare (H) minerals. 

"Controller General, Indian 

Bureau of Mines, has issued a 

notification dated 7th June, 2010 

inviting applications r the grant 

of Exploration licence in the offshore 

areas of the 

- 

country. 

Around 377 applications have 

been received in IBM for grant of 

exploration licene,7 the Ministry 

of Mines had said in a statement 

last yeait The sources said that 

each block measuring about 800 

sq km is estimated to have huge 

unexplored mineralwealth in the 

sea bed of the Bay of Bengal and 

theArabianSca. 

A similar case is also going 

- 

on 

in Andhra Pradesh High Court 

after a company, Trimex Sands, 

challenged the award of exploratiOn 

licence.

Ccalgate: probe 

ambit expands 

CET to sean block allocations sinée 1993 

PBD BUREAU/PTI 

parties under political pressure. regionally explored or 

The letter of MPs also sought for 

- 

j.inexplored 

coal b!ocks,a Comptroller 

enquiry as to what system the and Auditor General has said in 

Government of India put in place its recent repQrt on coal block, 

for ielectibn of companies for coal allocation. 

- 

NEW DELHI, SEPT24 

block allocation between 1993 to 

2004 ançt whether these guidelines 

were followed and how were joint 

venture partners selected. 

ThE' CBI has decided to expand its 

\.,,probe into 'coalgate bringing under 

its scanner all coal block allocations 

made áince 1993 including the sixyear 

NDA rule after a reference in' 

this regard was received from the 

CVC today. 

The CVC today referred the 

complaints to the CBl to probe the 

qttei and the agency will soon 

begin its investigation on it, (ill 

sources said: 

The allocation of thai blocks to 

private companies for captive use 

Last week, Coal Minister Shri started in 1993 when Coal Mines 

Prakash Jaiswal 'wrote to 

(Ntionalisation) Act, 1973 

CePtral , Vigilance 

was amended with the 

Commission seeking a CBI 

- 

objective of attracting private! 

probe into all the coal 

investments !in sped- 

blocks allocated since 1993 

fled end uses such as power, 

when Government 'had 

cethent and steel because of 

started allocation to private 

growingeconomy. 

players for captive 

In its ongoing 

use. Pag. 6 

probe, C 

Seeking 

- - 

has so far 

theCBI Offsbireminliig lkences. registered seven. 

probe; Jaiswal has rnnii under scanper._ 

FIR against private 

also tecently for 

companies and 

Warded -a leUei written by seven 

- - 

unknown public 'officials for 

$rliamentarians to the CVC saying 

that blocks allotted between !Till March 2011, the Ministry 

alleged misrepresentation of facts. 

1993 and 2004 includirik those of Coal has allocated 194 coal 

given during the NDA rule should blocks for captive mining of 

be investigated by the CDI, as which 142 were explored blocks 

allegedly favours were done to 'and the balance 52 were either

" 

SajIanS 

questions 

witness's 

condütt 

PBD BUREAIJ,'T'D 

NEW DELHI, SE!T 24 

CDNGIkFSS leader Sajjan 

Kumathcingtriajina 1984 

anti-SUch riots case, tollay 

questioned the conduct of 

the key witness and cón* 

pith tlflWcturt here that 

sh didrt tell an9 authority 

fti22 yearsaboufher not" 

having faith in the Delhi 

Police probe. 

Continuing the finaJ 

arguments. in the case, 

Kumars counsel RI Khan 

toldDistrict JudgeJRAiyan 

that complainant Jagdish 

Kaux, who had lost five of 

herfamily members during 

the riots, first did çtot coop-. 

erate s1th the Delhi Polics 

probe for Over two decades 

and later, in 2006, she 

explained her non-cooperation 

as lack of faith in the 

probe agency' 

The Delhi police had 

earlier probed the riots 

'cases and the investigation 

was handed over to CBI in 

2(05. 

- 

"Summons were dent to 

Kaur in Punjab by the 

police i 2CO3 and 2004 

requesting her to join the 

probe and br recording of 

her statement under 164 

CrPC but she refused to 

"cooperate. 

"After 22 years, in 2(06 

she had stated this for the 

firstthnebeforeCBlthatshehad 

it faith in the Delhi 

Rlice and that is why she 

had not cooperated with lis 

(police) prole7 Khan 

arguedXhan said Kaur had 

several ocrasions but never 

stated this fact before the 

Justice C T Nanavati and 

Justice Ranganath MWira 

Commissions and for the 

first time in 2(06 she said it 

in Cars office that she had 

no faitl1 in the police prnbe.

CIII stártsprobin 

offshore th!nerái 

mining licences 

ABHISHEKSHIJKLA 

The companies allegedly 


JUST a week after filing cses in 

coal block allocation scam, CBI 

owned by the son and brother 

of the officer are based at the 

same address on ICasturba 

Candhj Marg in the national 

capital, they said. 

has begun probing alleged It is alleged that companies 

irregularities in the country's 

first-ever attempt to explore 

untapped mineral wealth worth 

were incorporated after bids 

were invited from the interested 

parties ivilling to go for exploration 

and did not have any 

thousands of crores lying in the 

deep sea bed, sensing another experierce in offshqre mining 

mega scam. 

CBI sourèes said a preliminary 

at the lime of notification. 

The CBI sources said it is a 

enquiry has been regis- 

matter of probe how these cor 1 

tered by the agency in corinection 

panies 'vyith such allged lawnae 

with the alleged favours 

extended over rival 

to the companies by firms which were in fray for the 

the unknown officials of the 

'Indian Bureau 

of Mines while 

lucrative contracts. 

So ut re es 

claimed it has 

awarding 

been alleged 

licences for 

that at screening 

exploring minerals 

in the sea 

level th com- 

committee 

becl'of Bay of 

- 

panies 

belonging 

to the kin 

Bengal an4 

Arabian Sea. 

of 'the officer 

It is alleged 

scored much 

four beneficiaries 

companies 

above the rival 

firms 

owned by the 

.I n d ia n 

family members' 

Bureau -of 

of an Indian Revenue Mines, which 

Service officer are also under 

-works under - the 

Ministry of Mines, had 

the agency's scanner as they announced in March last year 

bagged nearly half of the blocks the list of companies that had 

despite lacking necessary qualification, 

they said, 

won the bids of exploration of 

mineral wealth 

The sources said in Marchlast 

year Govemment, in a first of the Bombay High Court had 

However, the Nagur bench 

attempt to explore offshore stayed the execution after 

mineral wealth, had placed 62 accepting the plea. of Tamil 

blocks on offer out of which 28, Nadu based 

nearly half, were bagged (H) 

by' minerals. 

companies owned !y family "Controller GeneraL Indian 

members, of the former Bureau of Mines has, issued a 

Enforcement Directorate official 

who had alscx served in Mines 

Ministry. 

The final award, of licenes 

notification dated 7th June, 2010 

inviting applications for the 

grant of Exploration Licence in 

the offshore areas of the country. 

'had en,put on hold after 

377 applications have been 

aggrieved parties approached received in IBM for grant of 

the Bombay High Courtand the exploratien licence, the 

Andhra Pradesh High Court 

seeking their cancellation,' 

iiL 

Ministry of Mines had said in a 

statement last year. 

-

Case against 

Rahul based on 

'non-existent' 

claims: CBI 

!BD BUREAU/PU 

NEW DELHi, SEPT24 

CDI today told the Supreme 

Court that the case of alleged 

illegal cbnfinemont of a girl in 

which Rahut Gandhi's name 

was dragged was found tq be 

based op non-existent claims. 

'Additional Solicitor General. 

l-aren RayaL who placed the 

status report of a Cifi probe in a 

sealed cove4 

said the address 

and naites of the persons, 

including that of the girt, were 

"non-existent". 

"On verification from- 

various 

government authorities, includdog 

the nagar panchâyaf and 

district food and civil supplier 

inspector, it was confirmed that 

there was no such address 

(mentionedin the writ petition) 

and there exists no record of 

such persons existing," tie said. 

The agency also said that 

habeas corpus petition filed by 

On verifucatio, fron 

various government 

authorities. including the 

naga panchayat and dh 

trict food and civil supplies 

inspector, it was 

confirmed that there waS 

po such address anth 

there exists no record of 

such persons existing, 

former Samajwacli l'arty MLA. 

from Madhya Pradesh Kishore. 

Samrite, seeking a direction.ir 

producing the girt and her parents, 

Was funded by 'some others 

and his statements have 

been recorded in this egard. 

CE! made these suhmissions 

before a bench comprising jus 

- 

tices PS çhauhan and Sthtanter 

Kuniar, which was hearing a 

pdtition filed by a Eormer MLA 

challenging Re 50 lakh fine 

imposed Sn him by the 

. 

Allahabad High Court for 

approaching it with these allegations. 

The High Court on March 7, 

2011 had also directed the CE! 

to register a case against 

Samrite and to find out 

- 

'as to. 

under what circumstances the 

P1 was filed. 

The apex court bench noted 

th't there were two identical 

petitions in the high Court and 

in both of them the petitioners 

were not the next friend or 

acquaintances of the victims 

family. 

He said another i4entical 

petition was 'filed in the High 

Court and 

- 

the police had located 

the persons named as. 

alleged victim, who had recorded 

theirstatement 

incident. 

- 

denying the

cgCPJoshi 

i". ,t I 

- 

, 

- .- 

takes additional éháigédf R4ilways 

Road Transport and Highways Minister CP joshi during a meebng -- 

with 

RaiIay offidal, 

in New Delhi —PT! Siom 

- 

PBD BUREAU 

Jcey infrastructure ministry 


has returned to th Congress 

after-V long years. 

Works on railway ove; 

ROAD Transport bridges nd under bridges 

and Highways Mi will be expedited for safety 

nister Cl' Joshi on as well as faster movement 

Monday took addi ofthe trains across, the countiosl 

charge of the try Joshi said. 

railway ministryfol Joshi who is 'also Minilowing 

the exit of ster for Road Transport and 

Trinarjiool 'Con Highways took over addigress' 

Mukul Roy, 

Joshi is ML' from 

tional chare of the Ministry 

ofRailways, here today 

I3hilwara 'I in He Wa Member oL Parl 

Rajasthai. 

iament from Bhilwara Lok 

Though 

': this is' Sabha Constituency in' Ra}, 

only an additional asthan. Earlier he also held 

charge for Joshi, the 

the portfolio of Rural Dcv 

e1oiment & Panchaati Raj 

fri the Union Ministry. He 

took additional charge followingthe 

exit of Tnitiarnool 

Congress Mukul Roy. 

Thoub this i only an 

additional charge for Joshi, 

the key infrastructure 

ministry has returned to 

the Congress alter 17 long 

years. CIC Jaffer Sharief 

was the last railway ministefrom 

the Congres 

199-95). 

Aftrtaking charàe, Joshi 

jointh' met officials ofR9ad 

Transport, Highways and 

Railways to expedite wprks 

on RoBs and RuBs.

Cong dOes not want 

truth to come out in 

oa1 allocations: BJP 

PBD BUREAU/PTI BJP today shid it has no réservations 

on the CVC's order 

NFW DEIRL, SEPT14 

aslcingCrntoprobecoalanocations 

1993 onwards and 

alleged.this was a 'delayirtg tactic" of Congress as it 

does not waIt truth to tome out. 

twe are not worded about theçvc asking the CW 

to probe coal block allocations froth 1993 as the NDA 

has nothing to hide. The issue here is who is bringing 

in the 1993 period and why. It is the Congress which 

has ben demanding this as it wants to4elay everything, 

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekartold VU. 

The BJP spokesperson maintained that as per the 

Comptroller and Auditor Generél, 2004 is the benchmark 

for the new developments in coal mining. "The 

CAG has explained that global prices of coal 

increised phenomenally 

in 2004. 

Act, 2003 

The Electricity 

also increased 

coal prices as private players 

were allowed to participate 

in power generatioh. 

The UT'A Government decided 'Id 2004 

that there 

should be competitive bidding in coal mining," 

Javadekar said. 

The flJP leader alleged that CBI is being "used, 

abused and misused" by the Government and this 

move is aimed at diverting attention from the scams 

and corruption of the UPA regime. "In 1993, a 

Congress Government was in power. Then governments 

of llCCujraland Deve Gowda, both supported 

by the Congress, came to power,' Javadekarsaid, reiterating 

thathis party has no issues with theperiod to 

be probed. 

'The point here is from when the issue should be 

investigated. You can eVen start 

°!p 1976 when 

Indira Gandhi nationalised coal miçiing or from the 

17thcentury when coal mining started. This Id just a 

delaying tactic," he added.

. 

Govt seeks more from SC in Salem case 

PBD BUREAU/I'll 

NEW DELHI. SEPT 24. 

INDIA is in toutñ with 

Portuguese authorities to 

chalk Dut the next course of 

action in the Abu Salen-i case 

after the top court in Portugal 

upheld quashing of extradition 

of the gangster w- 

ho was brought nearly seven 

years back, the Supreme 

Court was informed today. 

Aearing before a 

bench headed by Justice P 

Sathasivam, Attorney General 

CE Vahanwati sought 

more time to decide on the 

action after a Portuguese 

court 

Salems 

terminated 

extraditibn 

on the ground that 

India had violated 

the provisions of the 

extradition treaty 

bench had 

The 

earlier asked the' C$I and 

the 

Ministry of External 

Affairs to file theirreplies to 

Salem's plea for quashing 

crimiral cases against him 

after termination of his 

extradition and also asked 

Attorney General assist it 

in deciding the case. 

Salem, currently lodged 

in Murnbafs Arthdr Road 

JaiL had filed the application 

in the apex court after 

the 

Portugal 

Supreme Court 

upheld the order of a 

lower court there. 

At the time of 

Salems extradition, 

India had assured 

Portugal that no charges 

attracting death penalty or. 

imprisonment of more 

than 25 years would be 

pressed against him, but 

such charges were, laler 

roughtin. , 

Delhi and Mumbai 

" 

Police had slapped charges 

which invoke death peialty 

against him leaving thegovernment 

and the Clii redfaced.

Coal block probe to include 1 

UnitedFront, NDA regimes 

fe Bureau Istry's advice, the Central ernrnents also for the a! 2009 tothe CBI. 

NewDeIhi,Sept24 / Vigilance Commission leged irregularities In the Out of these 195 coal 

THE 

(CVC) on Monday referred allocationof blocks, blocks referred by the CVC 

goverrnnent hasall these allocations to the Earlier, acting on a corn to the CM, around 40 coal 

widened the scope of CBI for probe. This is seen plaint by BJP MP Hansraj blocks were allocated durthe 

Central Bureau as a strategic rnove by the Ahir, the CVC had recorn ing the BJP-led NDA govofInvestigation(CBJ)probe 

ruling coalition to shift rnended the allocations ernrnent between 1999 and 

into captive coalbiock allot blameto non-Congress gov rnade between 2006 and 2004. Companies such as 

mentbyincludingallalloca Jindal Steel and Power, 

dons rnade between 1993 Bhushan Power and Steel, 

GVK Power and Usha Mar- 

tin got coal blocks during 

the NDAregirne. 

"After receiving a letter 

from the coal ministry, the 

and 2009. This rneans that a 

total of 195 allocations will 

be probed by the agency 

against 64 currently under 

investigation and these in- 

dude allocations rnade CVC hasreferred the allocasince 

the PV Narasirnha tion of 195 captive coal 

Rao government and in- blocks made since 1993 to 

cluding the United Front 

and NDA governments, be- 

sidesUPA-! and IJPA-ll, 

the CBI. The CM wifi be 

probing irregularities in 

coal block allocations," a 

According to sources, coal ministry official said. 

acting on the coal min- .Continued on Page2 

Coal block... 

C'There have beenanegations thatnotransparent 

method was followed in allocating captive coal 

blocksandfavours weregiven toprivatefirms.The 

CBI, already probIng 142companies that were a]locatedcoalblocks,wfflnowbepmbingancompajijes 

which have been allocatedcoal blocks since 1993," 

the officer added. 

Against the backdrop ofthe Comptroll 

ditor General report that said that private compaflies 

madewind hilgains of tl.B6lalth ciorethrough 

allocationof captive mines between 2004 and 2009, 

theinter-ministerial group(1MG) headed bya coal 

ministry official and with members from the finance,lawandpowerminjstrleslsreviewingthede. 

lay In development of coal blocks allocated to private 

firms. The 1MG has already recommended 

deallocationof l3blocksandhassougfitdecjuctlon 

of bank guaranteesIn the caseof 14others. 

The CBI In its probe has already booked seven 

private firmsand theirdirectors for misrepresenting 

facts and fudging balance sheets to get coal 

blocks.

allocation of 

___ 

62 offshore 

:miningblocks 

feBureau 

New Deilli, Sep 24: After 

fihingaserlesof cases lntbe 

coal blockallocation scam, 

thecBlhasnowbeentaske.J 

wlthunearthingallegedir. 

regularities in the alioca 

tion of offshore mining 11. 

censestoprivatefirms. 

The CBI has registered a 

preliminary enquiry into 

allocation of 62 off-shore 

mineral blocks in the sea 

attempt to explore 

- - 

bed of of Bay of Bengal and 

Arabian Sea, the first-ever 

minesand 

tapped mineral wealth 

worththousandsofcrore. 

Theoffshoreblockswere 

allocated toseveralcompanieslastyean 

"A preliminary inquiry 

______________ 

. Five beneficiary 

companies owned by 

the family members of 

an Indian Revenue 

Serviceofficerare 

underthe agency's 

scanner 

"The companies got 

around 28 blocks out 

of 62 blocks despite 

being noteligible 

. The CDI will also be 

probing the role of 

officials of ministryof 

Indian 

Bureau of Mines 

Each block, 

" 

mea$uringaboLjt800 

mineral wealth 

A 

After coal, CBI 

trains guns on 

offshore mining 

" Agency MORE MUCK 

toprobe 

has been registered by the 

agency in connection with In March last yea the 

the alleged favours extend 

ed to the companies by the 

unknown officials of theIn 

government in an attempt 

toexploreoff-shoremineral 

wealth had placed 62 blocks 

dlanBureauof Mines while on offer out of which 28, 

nearly half, were bagged by 

companiesownedbyfanijy 

members of the formerEn 

forcementDirectorate offi- 

cial who had also served in 

mines ministry 

According to sources, the 

four companies, with the 

same central Delhi address, 

under the OBI scanner are 

owned by the sonandbroth- 

erof the officer. 

The CBlwfflalsobeprobing 

the role of officials of 

ministry of mines and Mdi 

an Bureau of Mines. The 

sourcessaldthateachbjock, 

measuringabout 800 sqkin, 

awarding licenses for ex 

ploring minefals in the sea 

bed of Bay of Bengal and 

Arabian Sea. This could be 

another mega scam," said a 

CBI officer. 

According to sources, 

five beneficiaries compa 

nies owned by the family 

members of an Indian Rev 

enue Service officerare un 

der the agency's scanner as 

the companies got around 

28blocksout of 62 blocks de 

spite being illegible, 

The final award of 11 

cences hadbeenputonhold 

after the aggrieved parties 

reached Bombay and is estimated to have huge 

Andhra Pradesh high unexplored mineral wealth 

courts seek ing theircancel 

in the seabed of Bay of Benlation. 

galand Arabian Sea.

On CVC's nöd, CBlto widen 

probe Coalgate 

fröm 1993 

PRAMOD KUMAR 

The CRI on Monday 

expanded its probe into 

"Coalgate", bringhig wider 

its scanner all captive coal 

allocations since 1993, 

including the six years of 

NDA nile. This followed a 

reference on this by the 

Central Vigilance 

Corumission mi Monday. 

The CBI will soon request 

the coal ministry to hand 

over all documents on coal 

allocation since 1993. The 

earlier investigation 

required the CBI to examinc 

allocations only 

between 2006 and 2009. lt is 

likely to fle multiple FIRs 

with the probe being 

widened, sources said. 

Union coal mihister- 

Sripraliash Jaiswal had 

wrltten to the Central 

Vigilance Commission last 

weck seeking a CBI pitbe 

into all coal blocks allocated 

since 1993, when Ute government 

Md started allocation 

to private players for 

captive use. He had also 

enclosed aletter written by 

seven MPs making the 

same demand. 

More on Page 3

___ 

- ___ 

Itt1t";ZI i&1; 31*T°R Imi 

(qeq'i4)i_ti ii*i *iij4vzz nftaii%qa 

'J (siw.j) IZI t Sit *1 *4$ 

tMgdqfl tiltat LH 14aI$* ft*4 1700~Rf19t1921fl 

flea * 

31WM 1 f soor llztir%l 

, 

jn 

itlifl SPfl 18Wlt*lß tM* EItRT 

r*llU vm 

'. 

wtt qgt eIIII 

*IRSIIRfII al i'itfi'it 'it 15 *I4odq9r 

i3lifld t, 2011 IF'Tt PTPfIII 

tig (4*4) 

,ft-tnn 4*fltiW* 

- 

i4k 

pg il ti 20 Sit 'Eli! ~c 

iai ft pcin n w mtrta a'ifl 

Wiarqt sfl itttij4 ,n'* iffing 

flt'P t wt' **'a* w4f4'.

T.iiiivicil ff3llcHcfn 

'gl. Ht4llk. 

31IcqcqI 10 

Sia'pii 

ifti ti 

___ 

bir Mriit kg _ 

*iftWf 

_ 

fluqi 

fkqnThi hFb4ll ft 

4ttiag 

314 11 liii flalTf 2S 'aS 

ttßflttf4j 

fl*athß 

_ 

ab 

rgQig nur* 

m iwr 4ui milr+ 

r*am 

*llThllfl9 

222011ta931 

iflfl 

'imari& 

i; 

fIRT '111 4FI 

12011 Izi. pii 

q iaii *1 

iffiflitht 

kiiaig 

t&r '.n lii S nm 

(t :3* l9lm 

* 

m '119 tI JIII 

* 

'119 

idraTr I 

iag Wtatf 

qpir tkc 

g 

a 

ait 

ftTRI-4PU 

" 

(w*3t2) 

fli ciii 

zitkeiTh 

fq fzif 

49R*1i1

c_v 

_____ 

'I 

1993 c4,k111 llcl, 3llcloi I 'liti ci,) WlaW 

__ fluflá 

if t (q)I 

1993 

- 

zifrii aii*it 

u4T* Ift*3llfß 

IItH*Kl *1 31vft1 PTt 

r 

4_. 

'' 

itzFiT 

* 

___ 

'f14191 311*1 

I 

1993t314 

4' 

. 

i4flv 

'1 iii Riiicil ijii allq: ii'*ii 

(tji~t) Is 

- 

T2R1993* 

1993 

2004ti 

tf3lStflll 

n*rar 

'I,J 

I 

_______________________ 

____ 

1993 

____ 

* IImItZIIR 

iMrn 

-11f1j94. 

Mt 

zt;iqti 

UI 4i UI 3* 

. 

I 4I 

197 k 4 **tflF 

*tt() 

cidq*sl 

1 

(I2) ThgPlcT3lplflfl tO9 

(I*'I 

dci,... 

alrgrlgM 1973 

liizlraug 

rqi*

__________ 

iiaqO ri Pwiei4 

Ifl1 t !lt TTi 2OQ4tflt4g4flfttft 

tyti*ain.f TTW, 

,thnn t ft 

P 

fq 

____ 

____ 

WR1993* 

ftq' ijft 

sfln 

vu.______ 

1T 199 4 3 TnThI*4 IMftt 'ft 

ifIrf 1993t2OO4**fl 

- "gic 

wta9ttwkJft £4; W1 1993 atR lsn rq,4w 

*9'a9flI P W9'tII 

1993 P1T 

11N (lpq,çJj) 

igti 

3t 31Rt 

T 419 f'u 7P11 a4 

3f¼Ppi'i 1913 t ttn 'B 

f4 fft 

4 PI* 

1T1PU_flft4I311fjI 

if

__ 

___ 

" 

b* rr o# thSi' 

ntiI" 

:alTqlw(z4) "I1Tt3fljfl3ffi9 

v7rr 

1l*28fli5 

øIC1C1I tjiGlci 

28 ii *i 1 fafln 2009 3U44WU 

g -$i4i r 

fi#aiinjfl wwna ffit ii t 

~ 

aiftiift4t 

2010 63 ffifl1 ! 

c 377 +4ii S9 ffi11I 'T 2011 4N1 I 

t 4 a 1R1993l{ 

___ 

~t% 

affii4 3t31'iTflftgffifli a TFff cGelqit fl* 

fM-3U*19fl211tikieii 

d lizii *1 

* *I1 

- 

(7. 

't" 

1993W5oflq4l ctlqeii tilciel %dt 

t 

1993 

iiiftr miT 

' 

intki titi 

'Ri 21 t&ar wcl,iiIci T 

itjinv 

at* 

1zi n ndr tti 

IiiMi*i 

- 

czcp'vIqrwmw 

11tI9, 19932O9M3Mfti 

f 11 218 N9i WW9R1 'fti 

lNMRfi'R %1TF*R*tl1lfl'j 

___ 

&jaiit 

1WT 

wrciti 

* is 

cbftsI.1 P1T ti 111'R"1 

igigii 

fi Mr14i 

in if%i g 

I' 1993 ici,it i4wj m 

__ 

f%t 

99*Tti T 

211 

R9t ihi (1996-97), 

!j'R1t (1997-98), 31ZT 

81191Jfl41 

lit* 

gi',i 

(1998 t 2004)t 

RR (2004

V 

:mkicii 3iicicci ct 

sjt 

l'flsw,u*tiecicicli 

qqii 

ct MIfll n* fl 11993~ 

' 

qIgMI 

tm 

f2**A 

un 'ictu.0 u; 

*I 

tlTtan4ii If auzfl d% 

aiwg iq iin~ 

i1b t1T 1'w3114flfljM t Rfl 

-**flt 

NmqKimT!TtT*i 

tm4kiiii t.f4i % 

ficg i&t 

&r t nt i% 

W't *k*in '1'IZThT T4 

fl 3tfl 

kStw-fltt* iir *! 

~ 

9'~C1Q1 T *1 

cii4 

fl t AV1 Tf 

~ 

~ 

____ 

'IT **1

1RUttgigcictft :RW 

3*3lhb1 

VIRI 

V 

* 

ipt i. 

* t iRn4'

ihtt, iIqj.g 

f*1i (qR3iRqq) dIThl 

5 3fltlt 

4ttIH4t3hflh1g 

* 

2dUiw 9tfl 

fl*b 

4tI*aflR1JIr 

4tI*Hd 

t t'i 

IR15IZTI *1 UWRI 

tI3TflTI 

*fl 

* n * mir 

t39tPh1TtttIt* 

in 

tI

CBI to probe all coil 

allocations since '93 

óoal 

flREOb 

I 

THEPMSOFTIIDS[pAyS I 

The Cifi is trying to get 

to the root of the matter 

'U 

- 

Vivek Sinha & Abhishok Sharan 

Iette,s®hlndustantlmes.com 

NEW DELITh The Central Bureau 

of Investigation (CBI) on 

Monday expanded the scopeof 

its probe into the 'coaigate' scam 

to include all mines allotted to 

private firms since 1993. 

This meansinvestigating the 

allotments by the 

gjp-led 

National Democratic Alliance 

regime froml998to2004aswell 

as those given during United 

Front rule in 1996-98. 

The practice of granting capthe 

coal blocks toprivate power, 

steel and cement companies 

began in 1993, following an 

amendment to the Coal Mines 

(Nationalisation) Act. 

-- 

Naraslmha Dew. Gowda 

Rao(1991-96) (1996-97) 

I¬&1 F&fl 

ItGuJraI AB Vajpayee 

- 

(1997-98) (1998-2064) 

CBI to talktoKtimar 

Stage Is set for CBI to seek a 

CBI to seeka 

response fromchief 

vigilance commissioner 

Ptadeep Kumar in the coal 

scam. He was a member of 

the coal-aflocation screening 

committee in 2006 in his 

capacity as special secretary 

in the coal minisfl > Plo 

CBI to probe all coaL 

'IC 

CONTINUED FROM PAGEI 

CBI spokesperson Dharini 

Mishra told HT the investigat 

ing authority had expanded 

probe's scope following adirec 

tion from the CentralVigilance 

Commission (eve), India's 

statutory anti-cornipt onwatch 

dog. 

ensuring a "clean-up" of the coal 

block allocation process inthe 

country, the source added. 

The CHI has so far booked 

seven companies for alleged 

irregularities such as selling 

their stakes at a premium on 

the strength of having unused 

coal reserves. 

The CV(Th recommendations The BJP has accused the govtotheCBlcomesdaysaftercoal 

ernment of using the CBI for 

minister Sriprakash Jaiswal alleged vested political interendorsed 

and forwardeda let ests. 

ter by sevenCongressMPs who , "We are not worried about 

had demandeda comprehen the cve asking the CBI to 

sive probe into all captive coal probe coal block allocations 

blocks allocated since 1993. from 1993 as the NDA has noth- 

"The CVC has noted the view ing to hide. The issue here is 

points of coal minister / 

whoisbringinginthel99aperi 

Sriprakash .Jaiswaland has for 

warded the letter to the CBI, 

asking it to take action," a top 

government source told lit 

The move was "aimed" at 

od and why. It is the Congress, 

which has been demanding this 

asitwants to delay everything" 

saidHiP spokesperson Prakash 

Javadekat

Kefala Cabinet yet to décideon CBI probe' 

VA JAYARAJ 

" KOZFIIKODE 

Caught between objections 

from the State police and 

sharp divisions within the 

Congress party, Kerala's 

Congress-ledUDF Government 

is strugglinghard to take a decision 

on the demand for a CBI 

probe into the conspiracy 

behind the brutal murder of 

rebel Marxist leader TP 

ChandrasekharanofOnchiyam, 

Kozhikode on May 4 last. 

HomeMinister 

Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan 

visited Chandrasekharan 

widow MC Rama at Oncbiyam 

on Monday in a reportedbid to 

make her withdraw the demand 

for such a probe but she persisted 

that onlya CBI investigalioncould 

bring tolight the roles 

played by certain topleaders (of 

the CPI(M)) in the conspiracy. 

"A decision would now be 

taken by the Kerala Cabinet 

after seeking the opinion of 

legal experts:' said 

Radhakrishnan after meeting 

Rn at her home in Onchiyam. 

The Minister is said to have told 

Rama about the difficulties that 

could possibly come up if the 

CBI probed only one aspect 

conspiracy of the murder. 

- - 

xamaana me Kevoiutlonary 

Marxist 

" 

Party (RMP), which 

Chandrasekharan and his supporters 

had floated in 2008 after 

their departure from the 

CPMREBEL'SMURDER 

CPI(M), had on September 4 

demanded a CR1 probe into the 

conspiracy behind the murder. 

Opposition leader VS 

Achuthanandan 

had the very 

next day come outin supportfor 

the call for CBi probe. 

The Government -.- especially 

Chief Minister Oommen 

Chandy and Home Minister 

Radhakrishnan was in 

favour ofinitiating a- CBIprobe 

but the situation got complicated 

after senior Congress 

leader and Union Minister of 

State 

for Home Mullappally 

Ramachandran objected tothis. 

This was followed by the 

opinion aired by the special 

investigation teamof the Kerala 

Police which probed the murder 

that a CR1 probe into the 

conspiracy at this stage after 

the chargesheet had been - filed 

render the whole 

could 

-investigationithad carried out 

meaningless. However, it was 

up to the Government to take 

a decision, the SIT said. 

On Monday, the Home 

Minister told mediapersons in 

Kozhilcode thatthe Government 

would do nothing that could 

weaken the case of the Kerala 

Police's SIT even when he 

promised to consider 

the 

demand ofRama and the RMP 

for a CR! 'mvestigation with the 

seriousness that it deserved. 

Police. The Government and the 

people ofKerala wantto see the 

truth behind the murder. We 

need clarity on some legal issues 

involved in the matter. The 

Cabinet will take a decision after 

gettingclarity onsuch matterC 

Radhakrishnan said. 

Revealing the rift within the 

Congres& its State chief Ramesh 

Chennithala differed with 

Mullappally Ramachandran saying 

it was perfectly all right to 

hand over the probe to CBJ or 

"There would not be any any other agency if there was 

move that could weaken the conviction that 

eicisting case of the Kerala - 

a fol1ow-up 

investigation was necessary

CBI starts probing awarciof 

offshore mining licences 

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE" NEW DELHI 

S'g 

a mega scam, the CBT has begunprobing 

alleged irregularities in the award of 

licences for offshore mineral blocks exploration 

worth thousands ofcrores by the Mines Ministry 

A preliminaryinquiryhas been registeredby 

the agency in connection with the alleged 

favours extended to the companies by the 

unknown officials of the Indian Bureau of 

Mines, Nagpur under the Ministry of Mines while 

awarding licences for exploring minerals in the 

sea bed of Bay ofBengal and Arabian Sea. In its 

PE, the CBI has also alleged that some private 

companies are also involved in the scam,agency 

sources said. 

According to the FE, four beneficiary companies 

had bagged 28 blocks out ofa total of 63 

offshore blocks. The four beneficiarycompanies 

including RVG Alloys and Metals Pvt Ltd. and 

RVG Minerals Pvt Ltd under the CBI scanner are 

owned by the family members of an Indian 

Revenue Service officer Ashok Agarwal, sources 

said Agarwal's companies are alleged to have 

bagged nearly half of the blocks despite lacking 

requisite criteria, the sources said, adding arms 

lobbyist Abhishek Verma has expressedhis willingness 

to become an approver ifand when the 

CBI registers a regular case. 

In March 2010, The Centre had placed 63 

blocks on offer out of which 28 blocks were 

bagged by companies owned by family members 

of Agarwal, the former Enforcement Directorate 

official who had also served in Mines Ministry. 

The final award of licences had been put on 

hold after aggrieved parties approached the 

Bombay High Court and the Andhra Pradesh 

High Court seeking their cancellation. 

The companies allegedly owned by the son 

and brother of the officerare based at the same 

address on Kasturba Gandhi Margin the national 

capital, the sources said. 

TheCN has alleged that these four companies 

were incorporated after bids were invited 

from the interested parties for exploration and 

did not have any experience in offshore mining 

at the time of notification. 

The sources said CBI is probing how these 

dubious companies managed to score over rival 

firms which were in fray for the lucrative contracts.The 

companies owned by the IRS officer's 

familyscored much above the other competitors 

at screening committee meetings. 

Each block measuring about 800 sq km is 

estimated to have huge unexplored mineral wealth 

in the sea bed of Bay ofBengal and Arabian Sea.

CBI's probe from '93 

oIiticaI ploy 

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE 

NEW DELHI 

Mm 

In 

a move that has drawn 

criticism of diverting attention 

from the current Coalgate, 

the CR! has decided to probe 

all coal allocations made since 

1993, including those made 

durinjNDA rule. 

CR! on Monday received 

requisite reference from CVC 

towards it following a request 

from Coal Minister Sriprakash 

Jaiswal to the vigilance panel to 

probe allallocations madeafter 

1993. The Government had 

started allocations to private 

players for captive use in the 

year 1993. 

"CBI has received CVC's 

recommendation to probe any 

possible irregularities in the 

allocation of coal blocks from 

1993 to 2004 and the agency 

will enquire into allocations 

post-1993' a CBI official said. 

In its reference, the CVC 

has asked the CBI toprobe how 

the rules were flouted and if 

there was any flagrantviolation 

of the policy. The vigilance 

watchdog also asked the CBI to 

probe the possible role of 

Government officials who 

allegedly connived with the 

private companies and the kind 

ofprofit accrued to coal block 

beneficiary companies. 

While the Centre has 

soughtto distract the attention 

from the coal block scam 

scripted during the present 

UPA II regime, when the Coal 

Ministry was under the 

charse 

ofPrime Minister Manmohan 

Singh, it is noteworthy that 

onlyeight blocks were allocated 

to private players during the 

regimes ofPV Narasimha Rao, 

HD Deve Gowda and 1K Gujral 

and 32 blocks during six-year 

NDA rule. During 2006 and 

2009, when the Coal Ministry 

was headed by the Prime 

Minister, as many as 155 coal 

blocks were allocated to 

different companies. 

By the UPA Government's 

own admission, 32 allocatees 

have been cautioned, 58 have 

been issued showcause 

notices and 25 blocks have 

been de-allocated. 

Reacting to the development, 

the RJP said it has no 

reservations on the CVC's 

order asking CR1 toprobe coal 

allocations from 1993 onwards 

and alleged this was a "delaying 

tactic" of the Congress 

since it wants thetruth muffled. 

"We are not worried about 

the CVC asking the CR! to 

probe coal block allocations 

from 1993 since the NDA has 

nothing to hide. The issue here 

is who is bringing in the 1993 

period and why. It is the 

Congress which has been 

demanding this as it wants to 

delay everything," BJP 

spokesperson Prakash 

Javadekar told PT!. - 

The BJP spokesperson 

maintained that as per the 

Comptroller and Auditor 

General (CAG), 2004 is the 

benchmark for the new 

developments in coal mining. 

"The CAG has explained 

that global prices of coal 

increased 

phenomenally in 

2004. The ElectricityAct, 2003 

also increased coal prices' a 

private players were allowed to 

participate in power generation. 

The UPA Government 

decided in 2004 that there 

should be competitive bidding 

in coal mining, Javadekarsai& 

The BJP leader alleged that 

CR1 Is being "used, abused 

and misused" by the 

Government and this move is 

aimed at divertins attention 

from the scams and corruption 

of the UPA regime. 

CBI's probe from '93...ttct5 

power, cement and steel 

From Page 1 should be investigated, because of growing economy. 

"The point here is from The letter of MPs also In its ongoing probe, CR1 

when the issue shouldbe inves sought for enquiry as to what has so far registered seven FIRs 

tigated. You can even start system the Government ofIndia against private companies and 

from 1976 when Indira Gandhi put in place for selection of unknown public officials for 

nationalised coal mining or companies for coal block allo alleged misrepresentation of 

from the 17th century when cation between 1993 to 2004 facts. "Till March 2011, the 

coal mining started. This is just and whether these guidelines Ministry of Coal has allocated 

a delaying tactiC he added. were followed and how were 194 coal blocks for captive mlii 

Seeking the CR1 probe, joint venture partners selected. ing of which 142were explored 

Jaiswal recently forwarded a The allocation of coal blocks and the balance 52 were 

letter written by seven parlia blocks toprivate companies for either regionally explored or 

mentarians to the CVC saying captive use started in 1993 unexplored coal blocks," 

that blocks allotted between when Coal Mines Comptroller and Auditor 

1993 and 2004 including those (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 was General has said in its recent 

given during the NDA hale amended with the objective of report on coal blockallocation. 

"In 1993, a Congress 

Government was in power. 

Then Governments of 1KGujral 

and Deve Gowda, both supported 

by the Congress, came to 

power:' Javadekarsaid, reiterating 

that his party has no issues 

with the period to be probed. 

continued on Page 4 

More on PlO

Allegations against Rahul false: CBI 

J.Venkatesan 

NEW DELHI: 

The Central Bureau 

of Investigation on 

Monday told the Supreme 

Courtthat the allegation that 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi 

had kept a girl and her parents 

in illegal custody was 

false. 

Additional Solicitor General, 

Harm 

Raval, appearing 

for the CW, told a Bench of 

Justices B. S. Chauhan and 

Swtanter Kumar 

that the 

agency, as per the directions 

of the Allahabad High Court, 

conducted an enquiry, 

and 

found that the names of the 

three persons were non-existent. 

Jts verification with 

various government authorities, 

including the postmaster, 

Nagar Panchayat 

officials and 

District Food 

and Civil Suppliçs inspectors, 

revealed that the three 

persons were non-existent 

and there was no such address 

as given in the complaint. 

Mr. Raval said the 

investigation and statements 

secured revealed that the habeas 

corpus petition filed by 

the former Samajwadi Party 

MLA from Madhya Pradesh, 

Kishore Sainrite, was funded 

by some others. He said 

statements had been recorded 

to that effect, and produced 

the status report of the 

investigation, which was 

subsequently stayed by the 

Supreme Court. 

Acting on an appeal from 

Mr. Samrite against the High 

Court order imposing Rs. 50 

lakh in costs on him, the Supreme 

Court stayed the order 

in April last. The High 

Court had also directed a CIII 

probe against him,for filing a 

petition against the Mr. 

Gandhi. It passed the order, 

after the girl denied any such 

incident when she was produced 

in court. 

In his appeal, Mr. Samrite 

argued that the order passed 

by the Division Bench of the 

High Court was illegal, without 

jurisdiction, and arbitrary. 

He pointed out that a 

petition pending before a 

singe judge was unilaterally 

transferred by the Division 

Bench to itself, and it passed 

the order, though it was only 

dealing with another petition 

filed by one Gajendra 

Pal Singh, who claimed to be 

a relative of the girl. 

Senior counsel P. P. Rao, 

appearing for Mr. Gandhi, 

said the whole attempt was 

to tarnish the image of a 

young leader of the party. 

The petitioner had filed the 

petition based on website reports, 

which were false.

CVC orders CBI to widen probe intd 

coal allocations during NDA rule 

Sandeep 

Josh 

NEW DELHI: On instructions 

from the Central Vigilance 

Commission, the CBI on 

Monday decided to expand 

the scope ofits investigation 

into the scam in coal blocks 

allocation to private firms 

between 1993 and 2004. 

The probe will now cover 

the blocks given during the 

six-year tenure of the BJPled 

NDA government, from 

1998 to 2004, besides those 

allotted by the Congress 

government led by P.V. Narasimha 

Rao after 1993 and 

the 

United Front government 

from 1996 to 1998. Till 

now, the CIII was investigating 

private companies that 

got blocks between 2004 

and 2009. 

As per the Comptroller 

- 

and Auditor-General's report 

on the 

allocation between 

1993 and 2009, 215 

blocks were allotted and 99 

of them went to government 

companies 

and 105 to private 

firms, while 11 were al 

lotted for ultra-mega power 

projects. 

Twenty-four 

blocks were tie-allocated between 

2003 and 2011 for 

non-performance 

by companies. 

'Maipractices 

in 

allocations: 

Conflnued fromPage 1 

Congress MP Sndeep 

Dikshit alleged in a letter that 

there were maipractices in 

theallocations from 1993 and 

2004, and demanded a thorough 

inquiry into all allocations 

during the period. "In 

many cases in which joint 

ventures have been formed 

between the State government 

corporations and private 

parties, there is 

information that many of 

these were done through fayours 

to certain parties and 

under political pressure, and 

due 

diligence was not followed 

in the selection of partners 

by the State government 

corporations." 

Mr. Dikshit also alleged 

that the "State governments, 

especially in Chhattisgarh, 

Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, 

clandestinely gave mines to 

private players through the 

joint venture route, and no 

known system of fair play or 

competition has been followed." 

He demandedthat all 

coal blocks allotted since 

1993 be investigated by the 

CB1, especially the 

However, according to the 

CAG report, still a majority 

of the allocations were made 

under the Congress-led UPA 

government after 2004. Till 

June 2004, only 39 blocks 

(nettwere allotted, while 71 

allocations were made between 

July 200'tlnd September 

2006 (till the time 

systems 

through which the State governments 

selected private 

companies, and the criteria 

and guidelines that were followed. 

the matter was referred to 

the Ministry of Mines for 

acting on amendment to the 

Mines and Mineral (Development 

and Regulation) Act 

for introduction of competitive 

biddin, and another 

142 after July 2004. Notably, 

as on March 31,2011,194 

blocks stood allocated, said 

the GAG report. Since the 

CBI investigation began, another 

13 blocks have been 

de-allocated. 

On representations 

from 

MPs, Coal Minister Shriprakash 

Jaiswal wrote to the 

CVC last week, seeking a 

CBI probe into the allocations 

since 1993 when the 

government started giving 

blocks to private players 

for captive use. 

Mainly Congress MPs alleged 

massive irregularities 

in the allocations under the 

NDA rule. 

Continued on Page 12

CBI:BEML surrendered Tafra 

manufacturing rights partially 

Devesh K. Pandey 

that 

Bharat Earth Movers 

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau 

of Investigation has 

strong reasons to suspect 

Limited, through a memorandurn 

of understanding 

with the Ravi 

Rishi-owned 

British company Tatra Sipox 

U.K., during the tenure of the 

suspended BEML chief V. B. 

S. Natarajan, partially surrendered 

the manufacturing 

rights of all-terrain Tatra 

trucks in 2003. The agency 

might now seek the opinion 

of the authorities concerned 

to verify the suspicion. 

Investigations into the alleged 

irregularities in the 

supply of the trucks through 

BEML to the Indian Army 

have revealed that based on 

the 1986 and 1997 agreements 

with the manufacturers, 

BEML had gained 

exclusive rights to manufacture 

the trucks in India. However, 

through an MoU with 

Tatra Sipox U.K. in February 

2003, it is alleged that the 

manufacturing rights were 

partially surrendered by excluding 

the axle part. 

The CBJ probe has reveaed 

that the public sector 

unit had in 1986 entered into 

an agreement with Tatra of 

the erstwhile Czechoslovakia 

for supply of Tatra T815 

trucks. Simultaneously, under 

the agreement, documents 

on technological 

knowhow pertaining to the 

manufacturing of the trucks 

were also bought for Rs. 3 

crore. It was agreed that 

BEML would progressively 

indigenise the trucks and the 

target wasfixed at 85 per cent 

indigenisation by 1991. 

However, when Czechoslovakia 

split into the Czech 

Republic and Slovakia in 

1993, the manufacturing 

company also split into two. 

While the one manufacturing 

70 per cent of the product 

was renamed Tatra AS, the 

other was called Vab Sipox 

(later calledTatra Sipox). According 

to agency sources, 

investigations revealed that 

Vab Sipox was gradually privatised 

and 80 per cent of the 

company was taken oyer by 

Josef Majsky, who allegedly 

had prior business links with 

Mr. Ravi Rishi. 

During the turbulent 

phase, the supply of trucks 

was hit, and subsequently 

Ravi Rishi's Venus Projects 

bagged one order of 100 

trucks from BEML It is allegedthat 

Venus was awarded 

the contract despite the 

fact that it was neither a 

manufacturer nor its subsidiary, 

but a marketing company. 

In 1994, tke CET probe 

revealed that Vnus and Tatra 

Sipox came together to 

set up Tatra Sipox U.K. 

through a 50-50 partnership. 

Later, the company was allegedly 

taken over by Mr. 

Rishi. 

The Slovak-based company, 

which earlier manufachired 

the truck axle and 

backbone 

tube part, during 

the correspondence with 

BEML, allegedly started exerting 

pressure that BEML 

could not 

manufacture the 

axle as it was a patented 

product and thus had to be 

imported. 

The agency has found that 

the agreement for supply of 

the truck components that 

was renewed in 1997 reinforced 

the exclusive manufacturing 

rights of BEML in 

India. Also, it allegedly mentioned 

that the technological 

knowhow documents had 

been transferred to BEML 

However, soon after Mr. 

Natarajan took over as 

BEML chief, the PSI! entered 

into an MoU with Tatra Sipox 

U.K. allegedly excluding 

the rights to manufacture the 

truck axle, thus partially surrendering 

the manufacturing 

rights. "BEML was supposed 

to import only the components 

and manufacture the 

trucks on its own," said a CBI 

Source. 

Investigations have also 

revealed that BEML had also 

developed a prototype of the 

Tatra truck axle, but it was 

not allowed to further develop 

it and was allegedly forced 

to import the axle, causing 

huge losses tothe exchequer. 

Interestingly, agency sources 

said the then Secretary Defence 

Production had then 

raised objections asking cancellation 

of the 2003 MoU. 

However, the objections 

were ignored. 

On the issue of the alleged 

surrendering of manufacturing 

rights, 

BEML Chief of 

Public Relations B. S. Sridhar 

said over the phone that he 

did not know anything about 

it. Several attempts to contact 

Mr. Natarajan also did 

not elicit any response.

CVC FOR PROBE INTO ALLOCA1IONS SINCE 1993 

AllcOatdèäls:' 

SI'S & pti 

- 

NEW DELHIJKANPUR, 24 SEPt The CDI has 

decided to expand its probe into coalgaté, 

bringing under its scanner all coal block allocalions 

made since 1993, including doing the sixyear 

N04 Me after, a reference in this regar4 

was. received from the Central Vigilance 

Commission (CVC) today. 

Last week, , .Coal Minister Shri Prakash 

Jalswal wrote to the CVC, seeking aCM probe 

into alt the coal blocks allocated since 193 

when the government started allocating them to 

private players for captive use. 

Seeking the CBI probe, Mr Jaiswal has also 

recently forwarded a letter writtenby'seven par. 

liamentarlans to the CYC, saying that blocks 

allotted between 1993 and 2004, including 

those given during the NDA rule, should be 

investigated by the Clii, as favours were 

allegedly done to parties under political pressure. 

' 

' 

The letters alo sought an enquiry into what 

ystem the Indian government put in place for 

the selection of companies for coalblock alloca-' 

tion between 1993 to 2004, whether thos 

guidelines were followedand how joint-venture 

, 

- 

partners were selected. 

The CVC today referred the complaints to 

the CDI 'to probe tbe matter and the agency will 

soon begin its investigation, CIII sources said. 

The allocation of coal blocks to private com-' 

panies forcaptive use started in 1993when Coal 

Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 was amended 

with the objective of attracting private investments 

in specified end uses such as pOwer,' 

cement and steel because of growing econoni~ 

In its ongoing probe, the CIII has so far registered 

seven FIRs against private companies and 

unknowr public officials for alleged misrepresentation 

of facts. 

Thl March 201l theMinistryofCoalhas allo- 

4e4t4 194Sfbttfoc captiv&nthilngofwhicW 

142 were explQrëd blocks and the remaihing 

ivere either regionally explored or unexplored 

coal blocks," Comptroller and Auditor General 

has said In its recent report On coal block allocation. 

Meanwhile, ahead 'of its Working Committee 

- 

- 

' 

- 

' 

- 

-' -' 

- - 

meeting; the' Congress today again targeted 

Comptroller and Auditor General mod ltai, 

alleging that some people haye the "penchant of 

seeking to becdthe a hero by adding zeros" in 

their report. 

His remarks came on the eve'of the meeting of 

the CWC, the apex policy making body' of the 

party, which will deliberate dn the current ppliti 

is 

Cong does not want truth 

to be revealed, says RiP 

NEW DELHI, 24 SEWn The BJP today 

said it has no reservations on the CVC's 

order, asking the CBI to probe coal 

allocations from 1993 onwards and 

alleged this was a delaylng tactic" 

the Congress as it does not want the 

truth to come out. 

- 

We are not worried about the CVC 

askIng the Cal to probe coal block 

allocations from 1993 as the NDA has 

nothing to hide. The issue here is who Is 

bringing In the 1993 period and why. It 

Is the Congress which has been 

demanding this as It wants todelay 

everything" BJP spokesperson Prakash 

Javadekartold P11. 

The SiP spokesperson maIntained that 

as per the Comptroller and Auditor 

General, 2004 Is the benchmark for the 

new developmentsIn coal mining. "The 

- 

CAG has explained that global prices of 

coal increased phenomenally in 2004. 

" The Electricity Act, 2003 also increased 

coal prices as private players were 

allowed to participate in power 

generation. The IJPA government 

decided In 2004 that there should be 

competitive bidding In coal mining" Mr 

Javadekarsaid. The SIP leader alleged 

that the CBI is being "used, abused and 

misused" by the government and this 

move Is aimed at diverting attentIon 

from the scans and corruption. ptl 

cal situation. 

12 booked for obstructingiaiswàl convoy' 

A local SF leader along with 11 others were 

today b okedhere fott,lie&edlyatt&mpungjs 

;'"obstrnct thCcohvoybi Coal Minister iprikMi 

Jaiswal to, 4ayago. Oa 22 September, Mr 

Jaiswal's motorcade was obstructed by a group 

of traders, who raised slogans and ceportedfr 

threw shoes 

- 

at the cars. They were opposing the 

Centre's decision of inviting 51 per cent FDI in. 

ultibnnd retaiL Mr Jaiswal's PM) had flied 

the complaint. 

Today, the local - SF trade leader Gyanesh 

Mishra and his supporters reached Gwaltoli 

pOlice station to court arrest. Police, however, 

ruled out any arrest saying a probe was on. 

However, Mr Mishra alleged that Mr Jaiswal's 

case against him was false as his group only wanted 

to give a petitionopposing FDI tqMrJaiswal.

fla1Tk*i993 *3T1*1 

Rf 1t, 24 th*at (kl(kl 

wqTyit 

RicpiW1VmT1993 

i4 

* 

ft Mraii ti ii igi g* 

mft mst 4 u inn 

S W flT T 1993t WR II StI siz41 

$19TTtI &afl1993tflWt wi n*r &Iq,gi uiflairS *u,~c nwtiwiiu 

**ntsa*, *Tzg 'JINC1 

* i1* fl8n4 *TgT 4fli* 

WSMR* thPft St 4 qncuflai$m 

1km uffic S 

d1*fl* 'flthi aT4#4tI$ 1993t2004* Ztft4 

2006-2009 T4t9 ZIIftI airtmifttz*pi afti gg 

* 

iIk11CbM l N1993itBZ 

* 

'A1wc,ii 

sigig 1T 4ilicvl 

S lnu inn qgcii 

*'4f11 "Egt an4ftt uqii ii (3ictut) 31D1PW1 1973 t IIt%T4 

iTMW & 4 fR* fl 1993 t2004 **4 1 

uc4,klctli iINT T 

wI *'f 

* *" 

* 

S* Tn

*W13Th$ c&ii1 1993 t 

mit c4uicii cciicii c4,I 

'iR 

1 fl Ig1c4Ic1 T-34II4.fijt gflT 

QF9I 

mn 

an 

___ 

tfl1cgwNfllc4flt' 

_________ 

* 

t 

* 

nIgklpIcl 

n~ *1 

*lgicciciisit Th cki ut 

* u S 'Iiq 

n iri 

* &hifl R 1fl t 

* si 1k511 *31 *191 

iitr wimiwniin4 pitt ~t aw 

tti*ttr 

q4cf i1tT t k** 

R~ S iit&t* fr% iatr *%fR ni 

TJ * 13*191 P# 

flflT*ftMteftI ST 1114 RH)*W 

fl i4ku 4IgeuiflT 

aii4zn i*1tlflktfR~t mR1 i* 58 4 t 

qguT* IS*qiII ftflzaimit' 

R '4 

&w 14g cq * pj 

j 

T 5' 

* ~ 

ai4t 

S-4'M4i Tii (a) l 4k41*a aiMI ffiintut 

tft 

qT &iiitrig uWmtrj*i* 

flilohjifl, 

*ft i-gw 4igMI tm't rc4fl 

* * q;i 'IIMI t*1 

sii4n 

'mui Sit 5' qqti 

4q*mzupflt 

q*54j141* 

w 'fl ft n* ft ~St iilrziit

AllOcations Since '93 to be Probed 

It Will cover NDA period, too, when the govt allotted 30 coal 18 to private cos & 12 to government firms 

blocks- 

WIOEANGLS Slwlpr.J4ashJaIsyrnl 

OUR POLITICAI. BUREAU 

NEW DELHI 

he Central VIgilance Commission 

,f (CVC) has directedClll to conducta 

probe into allocation of all coal 

biodkseince 1991. ThIawill covertheNoA, 

period, too, when the government allotted 

30 coalblocks 

— IC to private companies 

and 12to tovergutientflrma. 

With thla, all 195 captive mine owners 

will come under thescrottny of tInt.The 

government has, ames 1993, allotted 195 

coat blocks to private, public sector and 

slate-controlled utilities. The is,vesttgationssofarwere 

restricted toreatrtctedto 

64 capeivemines. "CBI will ottlarpreliminary 

enquiry into all allocation since 

BJPSpokespc,aon 

to ensure tranoparent allocation, and 

what on tents and selected guidelines 

"Wehavenoobjection. congreaedoea not 

wantdnlto come to a conclusion, This is 

Congress' attempt to divert attention 

from allocation made between loco and 

itOsi, We have nothing to hate," theBip 

spokesperaon said. 

OPt, too, said It did not expect a fair 

probe. 'tamnot cure whetherthe probe 

1593," aCilt spokesperson told ET, 

On September 5, seven Ml's led bySandseplIkable 

had mel the dill to seek a were adopted and followed by State got willhoeffective, We have demandedajo 

probe intoallocallonsmadebegweenigga ernmeni, whatmethodof due-diligence dicialprobe. We havealso asks for can' 

andlqO4,"lnvesttgaeton most cover what wore employed for the aame the MPa cellatlonof licenses, which gtvernment 

ystemihey tatale governmonls)sdopted wente In thetetter, apprehendingcaaea of 

said CI'S Ieadernaaja. 

hasnotagreed' 

CongTargets 

malpracticsa during NOt, rule. 

In Itslatest report, CÁO hadestimated 

undtaebenefilaofei,tglalcJ, 

crors topri' 

sate tirmeonaccountofallocation oral 

Inineswtthoutauctlon.ThetasueofauocationIs 

also beingreviewed by an inter' 

CAGAgain 

minIsterialgroup, which has concluded 

scrutiny of 211 blocks allotted to private NEW DELHI Aheadof itoWorklngComrnittee 

companiesand Is lilcely toreviewasimore 

givento government firmafromOctober 

meeting. Congrenton Monday hasagarn 

targetedCAC Vinod Rat. ategingehat some 

WthavenoobJeclIoILCong 9. Apart from recommending de'atloca people havethg penchantofseeelngto 

doesnotwarflcBltocomet, 

a conclusWn. This is Congress' 

attempttodivertatteiitlon 

tionof isblocks, else panel has so rarrec 

ommendeddeductionof bankguarontee 

in cases of l4mlnea, 

Responding to thelatest development, 

beconlea hero byaddingzeroc insteir 

report. rhe penchant orseekiog to become 

ahero byadding zeros (in theirreports) 

fromallocationmade 

BJP leader Prakash Javadskar said his 

party welcomedthe decision of the Cvi, 

doesrIot mean a cram has taken place: 

party spokesman ManlshTgwaritord 

between2006and2009. 

Wehavenothingtohide 

PRAICASI4JAVADEKAR 

reporters here. Hitremarks came on the 

eveofehemeetlntgoftWtjtreapex policy 

making body of the party, sshtchwiltdeliterate 

onthe current sokttcat ytuatioCthe 

meeting to signhticaneas isis the first interac 

tionat CWt In thewake ofthe government 

auditors report on the coal block allocation 

lame InwhIch in hat spoken of unduebanefitstoprivate 

players to theesneoeea85 

Iakh crore.- P11

HIM 

*WtaIit 

Rj fft, 24 flTthR (et*tcu) I 

i*fli t *zi 

* 

c~ i iT4RT 4 itiithiij 

Mr wlvutT t4 

m1 * ifWtauf 

(1(Ic4d 

ZR 

1R1j 

tt icsiI iNJ &iicii4ki *uiiiiga 

'ttE1*t i RN 

mi*fl% 

tf1TI 

qmnThi 

* 

iui 

I flit i, '% in 

311k'4MW T 1Rt1 (1IQcl al'ti aith4t 

igiwI 

* 

n* iW 

itt 

ini fu 

iii 

* I Sit rg41 lii iniiT 

2ff litc k1OUd 

* Si 

Sit tt fII 

Il1*1*T3Ut1

(BI to probe coal 

block allocations 

c since 1993 

HewsSe.nviick 

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 24 

The inquiry into alleged 

inegularities in coal block 

allocationissue today took a 

new turn when the Central 

Vigilance 

Commission 

(CVC) asked the CIII to 

inquire into allocationssince 

1993 when the BJP-led NDA 

was in power at the Centre. 

The policy of allocation of 

coal blocks began in 1993. 

The CBI received a request 

letter from the CVC and, 

decided to proceed, sources 

in bureau said. 

Last week, Coal Minister 

Shri Prakash.laiswal wrote to 

CYC seeking aCBI probe into 

all the coal blocks allocated 

since 1993 when Government 

had started allocation to ~vate 

players for captive use. 

Seeking the CBI probe, 

Jaiswal has also recently forwarded 

a letter written by 

seven parliamentarians to the 

CYC sayingthat blocks allotted 

between 1993 and 2004 

(81 to probe cool 

,tI 

block allocations 

since] 993;t; 

Froth page jI rI1 

including those given during 

the 

NDA rule should be 

investigated by the CBI, as 

allegedly favours were done 

to parties under political 

pressure. The letter of MPs 

also sought for enquiry as to 

what system the Government 

ofIn4ia put in place for selection 

of companies for coal 

block allocation between 

1993 to 2004 and whether 

these guidelines were followed 

and how were joint 

venture partners selected.

cBI to probeCap ive coal: 

block allotments since '93 

BS REPORIIR 

New Delhi, 24 September 

In a new twist in the Investigation of 

the alleged coaP scam, the Central 

Bureau ofInvestIgation (CBI) willstart 

an inquiry Into the allotment of 195 

coal blocks tocaptive mIners. Includthg 

state government entities. The Inquiry 

will cover allocations sInce 1993. 

The ongoIng Cm inquiry covers 67 

blocks allotted to pñvate parties since 

2004 when the rulingUnited Progressive 

Alliance (UPA) came to power. Ifthe 

Inquiryraises questions over allocations 

duling the National Democratic Affiance 

story starts from 2004 but if 

somebody wants to go back to the 

11th century, we have no objection," 

said the DiP's Prakash Javadekar 

(NDA) regime, It will provide the government 

with political ammunition to 

countercriticism bythe Opposition. The 

NDA government was In power from 

1999 to2004. 

The Cli will conduct the fresh 

Inquiry based on a reference by the 

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). 

The reference came In response to a 

September 19 letter by Coal Minister 

Stiprakash Jalswal requesting 

the commission totake up the 

concerns of a group of seven 

UPA MPs on the probe. The 

Ml's, Including Sandlp Dikshit 

Harish Chaudhary, Ravneet 

Slngh and Raghuveer Singh 

Meena, In a September 5 letter 

to the minister had asked fora 

CBI probe Into allocations since 

1993, cIting the latest CAG 

report lockallocon. 

The 

- CAG had noted there wasnosysternIn 

place fortnnsparentand accountable 

allocation. "Itappears thattherewere 

manycasesofmalpracticewhile allocatbig 

blocks between 1993 and 2004. All 

b1ocls allotted sInce 1993 shouid beInvestlgated 

by the CBL specially looking at 

COAL FIRE 

names they forwarded to the government,"the 

MPs wrote In the letter. 

The fresh investigation, with Its 

widened scope, Is likely to focus on 

three aspects. One, the systems adopted 

to ensure transparency and the cr1- 

teria and selection guidelines adopted 

by states whilerecommending parties. 

Two, the systems put In place by the 

Centre for selection of companies for 

allocation between 1993 and 

2004. Three, how Jointventure 

partners were selected for allocations 

Involving private companies 

and state governments. 

The Opposition BJP weh 

corned the widening of the 

Inquiry. "The story starts from 

2004butifsomebodywantsto 

goback tothe 17th century we 

have no objection," BJP 

spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said. 

The government has allotted a 

total of 218 blocks to companies since 

1993. of these, 195 blocks stood allocated 

to 289 companies by December 

2011. The government had cancelled 

seven blocks based on the recommendations 

of an Inter-ministerial 

systems through which state govern- 

The 

ments selected private companies whose 

group earlier this month owing to 

delays In theirprogress.

Coal scam: CBI to 

probe all allocations 

since 1993 

Our Bureau 

New Delhi, Sept24 

The Central Bureau of hivesligation 

will investigate all the 

195 captive coal mines allocated 

since 1993. Currently, the agency's 

probe was limited to 64 

blocks given to private 

companies. 

This means allocations made 

during the BJP-led NDA Government 

would also come under 

the scanner. 

'We have no objection to the 

CBI holding a probe into coal 

allocationssince 1993," said BJP 

Member ofParliament Prakash 

Javadekar. The RIP has been 

maintaining that no company 

was favoured during the NDA 

regime between 1998 and 2004. 

The CBI's current investigation 

of 64 blocks is based on 

Javadekar and his colleague 

Hansraj Ahir's complaint to the 

Central Vigilance Commission 

(CVC). The CRI will now widen 

the probe to all coal blocks, as 

the CVC has again writtento the 

agency to take up the investigalion 

for all allocations. 

"The CRI has received the 

CVC communication asking to 

look into allocation of coal 

blocks post 1993, and we will 

start the preliminary investigations," 

a CRI spokesperson told 

Business Line. The CVC's move 

is based on a request by seven 

Congress MPs SandeepDixit, 

- 

flarish Chaudhary, Rauneet 

Singh, Ch Lal Singh, Raghuvir 

Singh Meena, Ijyaraj Singh and 

Manick Tagore. On September 

5, they wrote to Pradip Kumar, 

Chief Vigilance Commissioner, 

wanting all coal blocks allotted 

since 1993 investigated by the 

CRI, especially at the way the 

State governments selected private 

companies whose names 

they forwarded tothe Centre. 

They sent a similar requestto 

the Coal Ministnj as well. Coal 

MinisterSrlprakash Jaiswalforwarded 

the request to the CVC 

onSeptemberl9. 

Interestingly, the Congress 

MPs said the investigation 

should focus on 'what systems 

the Governmentput in place for 

selection of companies for coal 

block allocations between 1993 

and 2004.' This was the time the 

NDAGovernmentwasinpower. 

The CRI has so far registered 

seven FIRs accusing private 

companies of misrepresentations 

and false claims while applying 

for coal blocks. Some of 

these firms have also been accused 

ofselling theirstakes after 

allocation ofa block. 

Ofthe 195coal blocks, 24were 

de-allocated earlier. Recently, 

another 13blocks were de-allocated 

post the Inter Ministerial 

Grouprecommendations. 

siddhartha.s@ 

thehindu.co.in

CVC wänts to know if 

Cöalgate began in 1993 

OUR CORRESPONDENT 

NEW DELHI: In a tit-for-tat 

of sorts which looks directed 

at previous governments, 

the Central Bureau ofInvestigation 

(CBI) was asked to 

probe the coal blocks abtted 

since 

1993, which will 

include the investigationinto 

the ones allocated during the 

National Democratic Alliance 

government. 

The move was made 

on Monday after the Central 

Vigilance Commission 

(CVC) asked the CBI 

-which 

is probing coal block allocations 

made during 2006-09 

-to extend its investigations 

to cover all allocations since 

1993. 'hie CVC asked thatthe 

agency investigate the system 

adopted by the state govern 

ments duting allocation of 

coal blocks. The criteria and 

selected guidelines followed 

during the allocation must be 

probed a source said. 

The CBI was also asked 

to find out the system put in 

place for selection of companies 

for coal block allocation 

between 1993 to 2006, 

whether these guidelines wer& 

followed and how joint yenture 

partners were Selected. 

A preliminary enquiry to 

examme the irregularitiesin 

the ällocation ofcoalblocks by 

thecoal ministry during2006- 

-09 was initiated on a reference 

from the CVC in June. 

The Comptroller and Auditor 

General has estimated 

undue loss of Rs 1.86 lakh 

crore to the government in 

the case.

Sachan case: CBI 

to file for closure 

AGE CORRESPONDENT 

NEW OELHI, SEPT. 24 

The CBI has fmally decided 

to file a closure report in 

the mysterious death of 

Deputy Chief Medical 

Officer(CMO), Y.S. Sachan, 

who was found dead in 

Lucknow district jail on 

‚June 22, 2011. 

The CBI's investigations 

have more or less concluded 

that Sachan committed 

suicide, sources sah!. 

Sachan was a suspect in 

two murder cases related to 

the multic-crore National 

Rural Health Mission 

(NRHM) scam in Uttar 

Pradesh. 

Sources said the agency 

sleuths reconstructed the 

cham of evefits and also 

used the services of forensie 

experts from the All 

India Institute of Medical 

Sciences (AIIMS) to probe 

if Sachan was murdered. 

"The doctors have fmaily 

opined that the nature of 

iiijuries on Sachan's body 

could have been seif inflicted. 

Even after re-examination 

of the forensie reports 

several times, the agency 

officials did not found anything 

suspicious", 

sai4. 

sources 

Now, the CBI has fmally 

decided to nie ciosure 

report in the case by the 

end of this weck, sources 

added. 

Large scaie irregularities 

in the impiementation of 

NEHM programme in UP 

came to hght after twa 

CMOs— Dr V.K. Arya amt 

Dr Dl' Singh—were shot in 

Lucknow within a period of 

six months in 2011. 

Besides, Deputy CMO 

Sachan, who was an 

accused in both the munter 

case, was found dead in 

Lucknow jall. 

The agency, which has so 

far registered 18 cases in 

the NRIIM scam, is probing 

two munter cases 0! CMOs 

also. 

"The agency probe has 

revealeil that Sachan was 

under immense mental 

pressure b&ause of police 

investigations against hirn., 

The CBI has also recovered 

a ietter written by hirn an 

June 11 2011, about 10 days 

before he allegedly committed 

suicide in Lucknowjail. 

In the leiter Sachan had 

threatened - to reveai the 

namesothose involved In 

the kffling of two former, 

CMOs—Dr V.K. Arya and 

Dr BP Singh," sourcos said.

CBI PE in offshore licences 

AGE CORRESPONDENT 

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 24 

After initiating its probe 

into the multi-erore coalgate 

scam, the CBI has 

now registered a preliminary 

inquiry (PE) to investigate 

alleged irregularities 

in the allocation of 

hcences for expioring mmerals 

in thsen bed of Bay 

of Bengal and Arabian Sea. 

Role of certain officials of 

the Indian Bureau of 

Mines (IBM) is under the 

scanner of the agency, 

According to sources, the 

agency has registered a PE 

to probe the alleged 

favours extended by 

unknown officials of the 

IBM to the companies 

while awarding licences 

for expioring minerals in 

the Bay of Bengal aM 

Arabian Sea. 

"At least sbc companies 

which were given licenses 

for expioring minerals in 

the sea bed, are under the 

scanner of the CBI. These 

companies are reiortedly 

owned by the family meinbers 

of an Indian Revenue 

Service (IRS) officer. The 

agency is scrutinising all 

documents submitted by 

these companies while Lii 

Ing applications for the 

licences", sources said. lt 

is believed that licences 

for at least ten blocks were 

given to these companies 

jlespite lacking necessary 

qualification, sources 

added. 

The final award of 

licences had been put on 

hold after aggrieved parties 

approached the 

Bombay high court and 

the Andhra Pradesh high 

court seeking their cancellation. 

Sources further said, 

"Probe has also revealed 

that at least three companies 

were given licences 

without having any 

xperience 

in the offshore miiing. 

Ilow these conipanies 

managed to get licences Ihr 

exploration, is a matter of 

probe". The agency is now 

scrutinising the list and 

other relevant documents 

of all 62 companies which 

were awarded licences. 

'The CBI wffl also request 

the Indian Bureau of 

Mines, which works under 

the ministry of munes, to 

handover all relevant documents 

related 

to these 

companies to the agency," 

sources said:

- 

- 

- 

- - 

1. 

ftalul 

_ 

____ 

- 

ijßtflS«wjfrtw d IRsrtfls """_zw 44 

PIW 91T 31T4Zf tIIZT% 4 

IM '17k ii'F 4ti4 

"JJUIII UI 

WRW«k*lrffilnl - IqJII4I UJ 'zt 

fr*S jt(t) rCflflswOUriri tRP-5 !* Pfl 1T 

4 '4 --r NUR 

n 

wm4* 

dildlei Ui eJa)lI1I YITtT 

*t* 4RRBI 

- 

J$jJJj 

- 

St aTt S ti 

rttut4alMipg wftatrsi 

rizi&*'lmwTnln62 

ft dri 4t 

ptt' 

wW 

fl 

* 4 aiftit * 

qftg*fi w 

Iftf*PMll4 flcl4rltll afkr«ti *4 *u (gg«) *i aiftwtt a*t w 'biw 44 

*ftfl td Iw Ttl r

CONGMPsWROTE 

TOREOUEST 

PROBE EXPANSION 

PRAMOD KUMAR 

NEW DELHI. 

SEPT. 24 

The CBI on Monday 

expanded the ambit of its 

probe into the coalgate 

scam by bringlng under its 

scanner all captive coal 

block allocations made 

since 1993. The allocation 

of coal blocks to private 

companies for captiveuse 

" started in 1993 whcn Coal 

Mines (Nationalisation) 

Act, 1973 was amended 

with the objective of 

attracting private Investments 

in specified end uses 

such as power, cement and 

steel becäuse of growing 

economy. 

- 

While seeking the CRI 

probe, Union coal minister 

Sriprakash Jaiswal had 

also forwarded a letter 

written by seven parliamentarians 

to the CVC saying 

that blocks allotted 

between 1993 and 2004, 

including those given dur 

Ing the NDA nile, should 

be investigated by the CRI, 

as allegedly favours were 

done to private companies 

under political pressure, 

sources said. The letter of 

MPs als 6 sought: for 

enqufry as to what system 

the Government of Indla 

put In place for selection of 

companies for coal block 

allocation between 1993 to 

2004 and whether these 

guidelines were followed. 

The expanded probe wffl 

examme allocations of captive 

coal blocks made by 

the coal ministry, on the 

recommendations of the 

inter-ministerial screening 

committee, during the 

regime of live Prime 

Ministers.

3itii M %: T T4T 

rii fcmt'aWaTI7 

I 

It4$I'i lv 

di 

21 

-rM262009t%31 

-"1991- 

Rd9tl. 

1696: 

fl%". 

4 

1993 

v. 

- 

'fl 16'Tf419961 

thftafti 13(91996; 

jlj4 0 

" 

-ISIQiTC.IC 

tflllflTlfi 1993 3 

- 

21 

MThß(Maltaiti 

-ITh9'ITI / *ItF9 

ar 

_____ " "' tI IWI t 4T 1993 3T 1 tIJI 1996- 

3111997 

- 

____ 

______ C U SI 

Itfti 

5,, 

IMi Pradlil 

-iisttqiggi-1 

- 

" I ri 111 IilI( IBR 4 Ifr 2034 19'RT4 1998: 

fIRR Mlw 11993 ffflqg 

19W1998- 

- 

JiF3mT 1976 tITIII a 

lijqq,cuilflfi 17 Ie F A 22942004r11'j 

_______________________________________

ut-aj boprd ofExcise 

Seminar o 

- 

Customs! 

DIrector, CDI. A.P. Siagh and the Chairman, National Com 

mission for Minorities, W4aliat Habibuilah at a seminar on 

"bnspaient and Robust Vigilance Mechanism',organised 

by CBEC. Also seen Parveen Mabajan, Chairperson, CSEC

CBI lens on 

1seawealth 

SUSPECTING another Instance 

of exploitation of natural 

resources, the CBI has begun a 

probe into alleged Irregularities 

m the country's first-ever attempt 

to explore untapped misteral 

wealth worth thousands of 

crores lying In the deep seabed. 

The CBI has registered a preliminary 

enquiry In connection 

with the alleged favours extended 

to certain firms by unknown 

officials of the Indian Bureau of 

Mines while awarding licences 

for exploring minerals In the 

seabed ofthe Bay of Bengal and 

the Arabian Sea, sources said. 

According to the sources, five 

beneficiary companies ownedby 

family members ofan IndianRevenue 

Service (IRS) officet who 

was earlier posted at the enforcement 

directorate, are also under 

the agency's scanner as they 

bagged nearl' halfof the blocks 

despite laclang the necessary 

qualification. "Out of 63 blocks, 

28 were allocated to firms owned 

by the family members of the 

IRS officer. Officials of the ministry 

of mines are also under the 

scanner as the officer had served 

there as well," a CBI officer said. 

It Is alleged that the accused 

firms did not have any experience 

In offshore mining at the 

time of notification. 

The Indian Bureau of Mines 

had announced In March last 

year the list offirms that won 

the bids. But the Nagpur bench 

of the Bombay High Court had 

stayed the execution after acceptIng 

the plea ofa Thmil Nadubased 

company. 

Mail Today/New Delhi

coal blocks 

face probe 

THE CBi probe into coal block 

allocations has expanded with 

the agency deciding to 

scrutinise all the allocations 

since 1993. 

This brings under the scannercoal 

block allocations made 

during non-Congress governments 

such as during the 

BJP-led NDA rule. 

The agency received a recommendationto 

widen the probe 

from the Central Vigilance 

Commission (CVC) on Monday. 

Currently the agency was 

only looking into alleged 

irregularities in the allotment 

between 2006 and 2009 when 

Prime Minister Manmohan 

Slngh held additionai charge 

ofthe coal ministry. 

Last week, 

- coal mThistersiiprakash 

Jaiswal had written to 

the CVC requesting for a probe 

into all allocations since 1993 

when the government started 

allocating blocks to private 

players for captive use. Since 

1993, a total of 194 blocks have 

been allocated, of which the 

CBi isalready probing Into 64. 

The government was pushed 

into a corner by theOpposition 

and the previous Parliament 

session washed offafter the Comptroiierand 

Auditor General 

(CAG) pegged the loss at fl.86 

lakh crore tothe exchequer 

Mail Today/New Delhi

Ex-MLApaidfor 

U 

case against Rahul 

FORMER MLA Kishore Samrite had 

received funds to file a petition against 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Cal 

told the Supreme Court on Monday. 

Additional solicitor general Haren P. 

Ravel said Samrite had admitted to the 

agency during questioning that he had 

received money in cash and had 

deposited it in his account in installments. 

'We have bank receipts showing 

the deposits," he added. 

The ex-ML.A had earlier stated before 

the SC that he had filed the petition at the 

instance ofSamaJwadiParty leaden. The 

Uttar Pradesh government flied an affidavit 

saying Samrlte's allegation was an 

attempt to gain cheap publicity and to 

advance his political objectives. 

Mail lbday in New Delhi

mu : 

flwflftft* 

tJfl993 

___ 

if~4 T5T m 

* 

57S3dnt* ç 

ftflWTh*7T*Ttff 

___ 

1.86 

#tTTqRJ¬I 

34iwti*4lal1t1993sNT S3fq4aftftfif4 

ffIRq9 tI 2006 2009 NTT 

RzRr1ft 

wi*i () 

* t't4fl 

UaiifQr frf fri l I 

193 a4ihit 

Mt*i¼1 

* 

UW 31T 1 W 'iiTht 

:ai* 1993 *3T 

9T i14t aSIRcbwa1** 

iiuPç t R14'IRi tfr 34

% 

1993 *2004 jifl 4W3IT* 

(fi) t 

cnwä 

a4l993fl*ieuly« 

„ 

I 

t4flflq«cflQl t, 

- 

4 

w19933115ac 

- 

'flhlkllll tlwl7TfvaT 

.dtn r*ir nr, rM tSnr

CBI probes offshor 

mining licence scam 

, NeerajChauhanll-NN 

New Delhi: A new scam 

worth several thousajds of 

crores hascome to light. The 

CBI has started a probe Into 

serious irregularities In 

awarding offshore mining 

blocks to private companies 

thatdidnotfuifllltheeligibfl. 

itycriteria. 

The CBI has registered a 

preliminary enquiry against 

officials of Indian Bureau of 

Kln got 28 blodcs,p 12 

Mines, ministryof mines and 

private firms that secured iicences 

to explore minerals in 

the sea bed of Bay of Bengal 

and Arabian Sea even when 

they werenot eligible. 

At the centre of the controversy 

is Ashok Aggarwal, 

former deputy director of 

the Enforcement Directorate. 

CBI sources say close to 

'Can't quash FIRs 

for heinous crime' 

Pulling corruption on a par 

with heinous offences, the 

Supreme Courtruled on 

MondaythatEißs lodged by 

Cal in Coalgate undervarious 

sections ofPrevention of 

Corruption Actcannot be 

quashed bythe highcourts 

and the accused will have to 

face trialafterthe completion 

of investigations.Pl 

half of the mineral-bearing 

offshore blockswere given to 

firmsbelonging tohiskin. 

This is 

not Aggarwal's 

first brush with the CBI. In 

2003, CRI had chargesheeted 

him for allegedly hatching a 

criminal conspiracy to implicate 

Delhi jeweller Subhash 

Barjatya In a now-repealed 

Fera case.

CII fmds foreigii 

hand behihd bid 

to malign Rahul 

Dhananjay Mahapatra IiNN 

New Delhi: The CBI on Monday 

Informed the Supreme 

Court about the involvement 

ofa "foreign hand" totarnish 

Congress 

general secretary 

Rahul Gandhi's image and 

reputation by accusing hintof 

abductingafictitltuswomn 

The agency also claimed 

that a petition in the Allahabad 

high court by oneKishore 

Samrite making baseless 

allegations against the Congress 

leader was "funded", 

emphasizing that it had even 

seized chits showing he received 

money for paying lawyers'fees. 

Ifl its status r port, sub 

mittedtothe court ina sealed 

covei the CBIsaid the woman 

Rahul wasaccused of abduct 

ingdidnotexist, andhadbeen 

conjured up in reports uploaded 

on three foreign websites, 

which Sami-ite 

used 

with anulterior motive. "She 

Is non-existent, her address Is 

fictitious and there is no Itcord 

whatsoever with the UP 

government or local bodies," 

the CBI informed a bench of 

Justices B S Chauhan and 

SwatanterKuman 

The bench is hearing an 

appeal by Samrite challenging 

the HC's decision to finposeafineofßssolaldjforffl 

ing a frivoloith petition. SC 

had stayed the HG order on 

Aprilelastyeaz 

On 

the HG's directions, 

the CBI on Marchll last year 

lodged an FIR against Samrite, 

owners of the websites 

and unknown persons 

accusing them of conspira' 

and booking them under sevenl 

sections of the Indian Penal 

Code, Including criminal 

defamation. 

Before the SC on April 6 

stayed the HG order, the CBI 

within 25 days had reached 

the website owners located 

abroad asking for details of 

the IP addresses from which 

BEING TARGETED 

the offensive content was uploadedon 

the websites. 

"Those website owners 

told CBI to come through the 

proper legal channel," add!- 

tlonal solicitor general Harm 

Naval informed the court. He 

said CBI was considering issuance 

of letters rogatory 

through indian courts to request 

officials in those countries 

for assistance in the Investigation 

when the SC stay 

order stopped further probe. 

"During 

Samrite said 

questioning, 

the litigation 

was funded. He has given the 

CBldetailsofwhohadfUnded 

the litigation. The Investigatingofficer 

has recovered chits 

about money deposited by 

hlmafterreceivingitfromthe 

funders. The money was used 

to pay lawyers," Raval said. 

Samrite,afornierSPMLA 

from Madhya Pradesh, had' 

claimed that he had ified the 

petition In the HC on the direction 

of top SP leaders. On 

being questioned by the 

court, Samrite's counsel Kamini 

Jaiswal had lnforrned[ 

the bench that her client 

hadj 

filed the petition in2OlOonthe 

direction of Si' leaders Mu-1 

layam SinghYadav and Akhi-] 

leshYadav 

The UP government had 

objected to the names of top; 

leaders of therulingpartybe-; 

ing taken so casually Senior 

advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told' 

the bench that Samrite was a 

liar whose petition needed to 

be thrown out without any 

consideration of his plea.

Aggarwal's kin bagged 28 &f 

62 offshore miningblocks' 

Ntflb3UhafllTNN 

New Delhi: Ashok Aggarwal, former 

deputy director of Enforcement 

Directorate, who is alleged 

tobe involved inan offshore mining 

licence scam, has earlier been 

tried for possessing assets disproportionate 

to his known sources 

of income. 

- 

Asfor thelatestcase concerning 

him,a CBI sourcetold TOl, "Indian 

Bureau of Mines officials did not 

follow the laid down norms and 

rules according to which only companies 

with expertise in exploring 

natural mines in the sea, having financial 

capability and 

technical 

knowhow could be given offshore 

blocks. Some of the companies 

which were given blocks had been 

registered just months or, in some 

cases, a few days before they filed 

theapplication." 

He further said, "Some companies 

were registered just before applications. 

Others wereincorporatedafter 

bids were invited, and did 

not haveany experience in offshore 

mining at the time of notification. 

The mannerin which these companies 

werepreferred over others in 

the fray for the lucrative contracts 

needs to be investigated." 

Significantly, companies belongingto 

Aggarwal's clan bagged 

Govt likely to issue rOme deallécatmon letters soon 

Thecoal ministryislikelyto begin nextweekissuingdeallocationletters 

toprivate firms whose mines were cancelled and those where bank 

guaranteeswere deducted forsitting idleon minesgiventothemfor 

captive use, coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Monday said. 

"Weare hopefulthatfrom nextweekwewill startissuingdeallocation 

lettersto all thosefirmswhosecoal blockswere deallocated and bank 

guarantee deducted," Jaiswal said. He also said that sofarthe coal ministry 

had deallocated seven coal blocks, while the government has yetto take a 

call onthe recommendations ofInter-Ministerial Group (IMG)for 

deallocation of anothersix coal blocks. pm 

28 of the 62 blocks which wereallocated, 

as part of a maiden effort to 

explore offshore mineral wealth, In 

Marchlast yeast Bombay highcourt 

and Andhra Pradesh high court 

have stopped the tinal award of iicences 

in resporik to petitions 

seeking the scrapping of the entire 

process. 

Sources said each block, measuring 

about 800 sq km. was estimated 

to have huge 

unexplored 

mineral wealth In the sea bed of 

Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. 26 

of the offshore blocks which were 

awarded are in Bay of Bengal while 

86 are In the Arabian Sea. 

The companies which got offshore 

blocks in Bay of Bengal indude 

Andhra Minerals (Nagpur), 

AnIk Industries Ltd (Mumbai), IBC 

Limited (Chennai), Kanyakumari 

Minerals (Nagpur), PM GEOExplo 

ration India TM Ltd (Bangalore), 

PMB Rare Minerals India Pvt 

Ltd (Bangalore), RVG Minerals 

and Metals TM Ltd (New Delhi) 

and Standard Metalloys Pvt Ltd 

(NewDeihi). 

The companies which got 

blocks In ArabIan Sea include Apex 

Metalloys Pvt Ltd (New Delhi), CG 

chin Minerals and Ruffle Limited 

(Alwaye, Kerala), Indian Garnet 

SandCo (F)Ltd (Chennai), Rare (U) 

Minerals Fvt Ltd (Tiruchirapalil), 

RVG Metals and Alloys TM Ltd 

(New Delhi), UA Minerals Pvt Ltd 

(New Delhi), Vetrivel Mineralsflmil 

Nadu) and VIA Earth ResourcesPvtLtd(Mumbai). 

Out of these, CBI sources said 

five companies RVG Minerals, 

Standard, Apex, -RVG Metals and 

UA belonged to Aggar- 

Minerals- 

wal'sbrother and son.

NDA coal block 

allocations now 

under CBJ lens 

TIMES NEWSNETWORK 

New Dethi: The CDI has decided 

toexpand its probe into 

Coalgate scam bringing under 

itsscanner all coal block 

allocations made since 1993, 

including the six-year NDA 

rule, after a reference in 

thisregardwasreceivedfrom 

the CVC. 

Last week, coal minister 

Shri Prakash ,Jaiswal wrote 

toCentralVigilanceCommi& 

sion seeking a CBI probe into 

all coal blocks allocated since 

1993 when the government 

had started allocation to private 

players for captive usa 

Seeking a CDI probe, Jaiswal 

also recently forwarded a 

letterwrittenby sevenparliamentarians 

to the CVC saying 

that blocks allotted betweenl9g3and2004including 

those given during NDArule 

should be investigated by 

CBI, as allegedly favours 

were done to parties under 

politicalpressura 

The letter of MPs also 

sought enquiry as to what 

system the governmentofIndia 

put in place for selection 

of companies for coal block 

allocation between 1993 and 

2004andwhethertheseguidelines 

were followed and how 

were joint venture partners 

selected. 

The CVC referred the 

complaints to CBI to probe 

the matter and the agency 

will soon begin its investigation 

on it, CBI sources said. 

The allocation of coal blocks 

toprivate companies for captive 

use started in 1993 when 

Coal Mines (Nationalisation) 

Act, 1973 was amended with 

the objective of attracting 

private investment in specified 

end uses such as power, 

cement and steel because of 

growing economy. 

In its ongoing probe, CDI 

has so far registered seven 

DIGGING UP DIRT 

BJP meet to focus 

on UPA's misrule 

BJP's national executive 

The 

and national council 

meetings, beginning 

Wednesday, are expected to 

focus on the UPA government's 

"1corruption" and economic 

policy decisions and waysto 

improvethe party's prospects 

in assembly pollsslated in the 

nextfew months. The 

meetings, at$urajkund in 

Hajyana, come againstthe 

backdrop oftheUPA 

government losing ally 

Trinamool Congress and a 

larger opposition unity onthe 

issues of foreign direct 

investment in multi-brand 

retail, hike in diesel prices and 

cap on subidized cooking gas 

cylinders. ANS 

FIRs against private compaflies 

and unknown public officials 

for alleged misrepresentation 

of facts. "Till 

March 2011, the ministry of 

coal has allocated 194 coal 

blocks for captive mining of 

which 142 were explored 

blocks and the balance 52 

were either regionally explored 

or unexplored coal 

blocks," the CAG said in its 

recentreportoncoal block allocation.

The Director, CBI, A.P, Singh, and the 

Chairman, National Commissionfor 

Minorities, Wajahat Habibullab, at a seminar 

on ftansparent and Robust Vigilance 

Mechanism', organised by CBEC, in New Delhi, 

on September 21. Also seen in the picture is 

Chairperson, CBEC, Praveen Mahajan

Download 1 - Central Bureau of Investigation

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?