THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Jan 2: In a case pertaining to purported anomalies in the 1998 allocation of the Kilhoni coal block in Maharashtra to Nippon Denro Ispat Limited, the CBI has submitted a closure report following a nearly four-year investigation, officials stated on Tuesday.
Following a complaint filed by then-Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit and six other then-MPs alleging anomalies in the allotment of coal blocks during the period 1993-2005, the agency began a preliminary investigation under the directives of the Central Vigilance Commission in 2012.
The agency had decided it was appropriate to turn it into an FIR based on the outcomes of its investigation.
Nevertheless, the CBI did not discover sufficient evidence to file a charge sheet, therefore on December 23, 2023, after four years of investigation, it filed a closure report before a special court.
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The case and CBI’s probe
The CBI investigation revealed that the Kilhoni block was given to NDIL and included in the list of blocks designated for captive mining on August 24, 1988, during the screening committee’s 13th meeting.
According to the agency, the Coal Ministry’s notification in this regard was “neither in conformity” with the criteria for coal mining by affiliated coal companies “nor with the allocation letter issued to NDIL”.
“Even the coal ministry officials had not mentioned the name of NDIL in the issued notification, although the coal block has been allocated to NDIL by the Screening Committee”, it said.
“Also the Kilhoni Block was not in the list of identified coal blocks for captive mining and the apex committee of CIL did not agree for allocation of this block to NDIL,” CBI alleged in the FIR.
“The 12th Screening Committee had not agreed for allocation of Kilhoni Block, Maharashtra to NDIL even then 13th SC allocated it to NDIL even though the block was included in the list of blocks for captive mining,” the FIR alleged.
CBI’s FIR further alleged that “The…information discloses that Nippon Denro Ispat Ltd along with unidentified public servants in a criminal conspiracy cheated the Government of India and committed offences punishable under 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and…Prevention of Corruption Act”.
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