New Delhi, October 24: The CBI on Thursday questioned a senior executive of Jindal Steel and Power Limited in connection with alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal block to the company.
The CBI sources said they had sought appearance of any executive of the company for examination and Director Group HR Rajiv Bhadauria had offered to appear.
Mr. Bhadauria was also present at one of the locations searched immediately after filing of the FIR against JSPL and Congress MP Naveen Jindal, the sources said.
Mr. Bhadauria was questioned for nearly three hours on various company’s documents related to allocation of the coal block.
The CBI has named Jindal, JSPL, former MoS Coal Dasari Narayan Rao in the FIR in alleged misrepresentation of facts in allocation of Amarkonda Murugadangal Coal block.
During its probe into the scam, it was for the first time the then minister of state was named as an accused in an FIR by CBI in which it was alleged that he had received Rs. 2.25 crore camouflaged as investment from one of Jindal’s firms within a year of allocation of a coal block to him.
The CBI sources said Jindal Steel and Power Limited and Gagan Sponge Iron Limited, also a Jindal firm, had bagged Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Birbhum, West Bengal in 2008 by alleged misrepresentation of facts when Rao was the Minister of State for Coal.
Reacting to the FIR, head of external affairs, JSPL Manu Kapoor had said, “JSPL, as a law abiding company, is governed by a strong ethical code of conduct. This is an ongoing CBI investigation into coal block allocation. At this stage of investigation, JSPL is committed to fully cooperate with CBI.”
The CBI has claimed in its FIR that the misrepresentation was allegedly done on three counts — land, water supply and previous allocations.
