Court orders framing of charges against accused

A special court has ordered framing of charges against a Ranchi-based company, its three directors and two others in a coal block allocation case for allegedly misrepresenting facts to bag a coal block in Jharkhand.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said "prima facie there is sufficient material to order framing of charges" against M/S Domco Pvt Ltd, its three directors Binay Prakash, Vasant Diwakar Manjrekar and Parmananda Mondal, chartered accountants Manoj Kumar Gupta and Sanjay Khandelwal for alleged offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.

The court, however, discharged one Shukdeo Prasad saying "prima facie it did not find sufficient material which could warrant framing of charges" for any offence, much less for the offence of criminal conspiracy or cheating against him. The court fixed February 13 for formal framing of charges against the accused and reiterated that during trial, the accused would get a chance to show that there was no malafide intention on their part.

The counsel for accused had sought discharge from the case saying the ingredients of the offence of cheating and criminal conspiracy were prima facie not made out from the facts and circumstances of the case.

The court had earlier summoned as accused the firm and six persons after taking cognisance on the CBI's charge sheet.

CBI has claimed in its charge sheet that Domco Pvt Ltd had applied to the Steel Ministry for allotment of a captive coal block to set up a pig iron plant of two lakh tonnes per annum capacity at Rairangpur in Odisha.

On the asking of the Ministry in November 2000, the firm had also submitted an application for allotment of coal block to the Ministry of Coal (MOC).

CBI said that on the basis of information and documents furnished, MOC proceeded to finally allocate Lalgarh (North) Coal Block in West Bokaro Coal Fields of Jharkhand in favour of the firm for their plant at Rairangpur.