CBI Court orders framing of charges against Jindal and others

Yogesh Mishra

New Delhi: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Friday ordered framing of charges against noted industrialist Naveen Jindal, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao and 13 others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and other offences in the coal block allocation scam.

“The charges to be framed against all the accused under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 409 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under sections 13(1) (c), 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act,” said special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar.

The court, however, said charges against all the accused will be formally framed later on.

The court also ordered to put on trial ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and 11 others, who were chargesheeted by CBI in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Private Ltd (GSIPL) in 2008.

Other accused:

The other accused are: Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, Directors of GSIPL, Suresh Singhal, Director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, K Ramakrishna Prasad, Managing Director of Sowbhagya Media Ltd and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg.

These accused are currently out on bail.

The Firms:

Five firms - JSPL, Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd (formerly known as GSIPL), Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd - are also accused in the case.