ED attaches Rs 206-crore Chhattisgarh steel plant

The ED has attached a Chhattisgarh-based steel plant and its machinery worth Rs 206 crore in connection with its money laundering probe in the coal scam case.

The ED said the plant is located in Dagori area in Bilaspur district of the state and belongs to a company identified as Ms Jayaswal Neco Industries Limited. A provisional attachment order, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), attaching Rs 206 crore worth assets of the steel plant has been issued by Enforcement Directorate, it said.

The ED booked a case against the firm to probe money laundering charges, based on a CBI FIR, registered to probe alleged irregularities in the coal blocks allocation. The CBI had earlier filed a charge sheet against the firm.

The agency, in a statement, said the company had obtained the Gare Palma-sub block IV/4 coal block "through fraudulent means by making misrepresentation and the company resorted to illegal use of coal mined in their captive power plant (CPP) without any permission from the central government." As per the allocation letter, it said, the company had "to wash the coal in a washery to 20 per cent ash level and the middling/rejects produced during the process to be used in its CPP.

"However, the coal was used directly in their sponge iron plant and the CPP, without setting up a washery or without any approval for its use in the CPP directly," it said.