CBI prosecutor errs in JSPL coal block court argument

New Delhi: In a major embarrassment to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during a court hearing pertaining to the Urtan captive coal block case, which was earlier allocated to Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), the prosecutor of the investigating agency on Monday made arguments contrary to the evidence in their own chargesheet.

The CBI had filed a chargesheet and the matter was in pre-trial stage.

During the arguments on framing of charges on Monday, CBI Prosecutor VK Sharma claimed that JSPL had filed three applications and was bound to submit three drafts of Rs. 10,000 each with each application amounting to Rs. 30,000. The prosecutor further alleged that JSPL had submitted only one demand draft of Rs. 10,000- thereby causing loss of Rs. 20,000- to the national exchequer and cheated the government.

The allegation made by the prosecutor came as a cause of laughter in an otherwise tense courtroom. Further embarrassment followed as the Defence Counsel Dr P Hariharan for the company stood up, emphatically alleging that the CBI Prosecutor was "misleading the court". Dr Hariharan pulled out an annexure from the evidence from the CBI chargesheet which demolished the earlier allegation made by the prosecutor VK Sharma.

The annexure Hariharan showed to the court out of the evidence relied upon in the CBI chargesheet clearly highlighted alongwith Demand Draft

numbers that JSPL had deposited three different Demand Drafts of Rs 10,000 each

drawn at the State Bank of India (SBI) alongwith the three different applications.

Was it a costly error made by the prosecutor or indeed an attempt to mislead the court may be clarified once the matter comes up for the hearing later.