Coal scam: Delhi court to consider charges against Congress leader Naveen Jindal on 26 March

New Delhi: A special court on Monday said it would next month consider the point of charges in a case against Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and others pertaining to irregularities in the allocation of a Jharkhand coal block. [caption id=“attachment_672186” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Fiel image of Congress leader Naveen Jindal. PIB[/caption] Special judge Bharat Parashar adjourned the matter for next hearing after written submissions on the point of charge on behalf of all the accused persons were completed. “Written submissions on the point of charge on behalf of all the accused persons stands completed. The case is now adjourned to 26 March, 2018 for consideration on the point of charge,” the court said. The case pertains to the allocation of the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand. The court had in April 2016 ordered framing of charges against Jindal, former MoS for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao (since deceased), former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and 11 others for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust under the IPC and sections of Prevention of Corruption Act in the case. An additional charge sheet was later filed against Jindal Steel’s adviser Anand Goel, Gurgaon-based Green Infra’s Vice-President Siddharth Madra, Nihar Stocks Ltd Director Suryanarayan, Mumbai-based KE International’s Chief Financial Officer Rajeev Aggarwal and Mumbai’s Essar Power Ltd Executive vice-chairman Sushil Kumar Maroo. CBI had alleged that Koda had favoured Jindal group firms—Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL)—in the allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal block. It had alleged that five accused named in the second charge sheet tried to hamper the investigation and threatened Suresh Singhal, a chartered accountant who was earlier arrayed as an accused but had later turned approver. All the accused have denied the allegations levelled against them and said there was no evidence to show that there was any conspiracy during the coal block allocation process. The CBI has recently filed another charge sheet against Jindal and others, including Goel and Maroo, for allegedly cheating the government by misrepresenting facts to get the Madhya Pradesh based Urtan North coal block.