Coal scam: Naveen, Rao, Koda and seven others get bail

Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, ex-Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao and seven others were on Friday granted bail by a special court which asked them not to tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.

The court granted them the <g data-gr-id="115">relief,</g> after they appeared before it and sought bail on the ground that they have joined the investigation and there was no apprehension that they would flee from justice.

Apart from Jindal, <g data-gr-id="110">Rao</g> and Koda, the court granted bail to former coal Secretary Harish Chandra Gupta and six others on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each and a surety of like amount.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar directed the accused not to leave the country without the court's prior permission and fixed the matter for June 1 for scrutiny of documents.

While granting bail, the court said undoubtedly the allegations against the accused persons were serious in nature and <g data-gr-id="120">moreso</g> as they occupied <g data-gr-id="113">high</g> position in the society.

"However, at the same time it is also true that during the course of investigation, none of the accused persons were arrested by CBI and there has been no allegation that they did not join the investigation as and when called for," it said.

"I, thus, without entering into any further details on merits or demerits of the case at this stage of the matter, deem it appropriate that the interest of justice will be suitably met if all the above 10 accused persons are released on bail...," the judge said.

During the hearing, CBI vehemently opposed the bail pleas of Jindal and others saying the accused are high-profile industrialists, politicians and public servants. Senior Public Prosecutor VK Sharma said most of the prosecution witnesses were employees of various industries of the accused persons and there were chances of tampering with evidence. Also considering the seriousness of the allegations, the accused persons should not be released on bail, he said.

The accused were summoned by the court in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to two Jindal group firms, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL). 

A special court on Friday directed the CBI to file on June 4 the progress report of its further probe in a coal blocks allocation case allegedly involving MP Vijay Darda. The court's order came after the agency said they have not received sanction to prosecute LS <g data-gr-id="119">Janoti</g>, a Coal Ministry official.

Former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, an accused in a coal block allocation scam case, on Friday sought to drag former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's name in a special court saying decision on coal block allocation was taken by his office as he headed the Coal Ministry then. While seeking bail, the counsel appearing for Rao told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that the then Prime Minister also held the Coal portfolio at that time and his client had nothing to do with the allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to Naveen Jindal group firms. "The decision regarding final allocation was taken by the Minister of Coal, who was the then Prime Minister.

I (Rao) had nothing to do with it," his counsel said. "Being the Minister of State for Coal, he (Rao) only forwarded the notes. The decision was taken by the Prime Minister Office (PMO) not by me (Rao)," he told the court. Similarly, former Coal Secretary H C Gupta sought bail saying he, as the chairman of Screening Committee, only forwarded the recommendations to the then coal minister.  "Being the Chairman of the screening committee, I (Gupta) was required to forward the recommendations to the Coal Minister, who was the then Prime Minister. Screening committee was only a recommending body," Gupta's advocate said. After the arguments on the bail plea of the 10 individual accused, the court granted bail to them on a personal bond of Rs one lakh each with one surety of the like amount.