BJP targets PM on missing coalgate files

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley referred to a newspaper report which quoted CBI official K R Chaurasia as stating that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requires to be questioned as he held the coal portfolio from 2006-09.

‘The coal block allocation scam is becoming murkier and murkier....The consequence of this (Chaurasia’s demand) is critical to the investigation. A substantially large number of files/documents/applications connected with the coal block allocation scam have disappeared. The documentary evidence is missing,’ the two leaders said in their joint statement.

In such a scenario where documentary evidence has disappeared, the BJP said that the CBI will now have to be dependent on the oral evidence which includes examination of those likely to be in the know of relevant facts. ‘The oral examination is not being permitted. The consequences of this will be critical and adverse to the investigation. It seems that the effort of the UPA government is to sabotage the investigation and render it ineffective,’ said the statement. The party demanded that government register an FIR on the case and explain why this has not yet been done.