The CBI on Wednesday registered eight more Preliminary Enquiries to probe possible criminality arising out of the tapped conversations of controversial corporate lobbyist Niira Radia.
The PEs have been registered against former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, Reliance Industries ltd and former Director General of Hydrocarbons VK Sibal among others in separate cases.
The agency has registered a PE to probe alleged misconduct in the allotment of iron ore mines at Ankua, Singhbhum district of Jharkhand to Tata Steel. Koda, who is out on bail in a corruption case, and unknown officials of Jharkhand Government have been named as accused, CBI sources said.
The sources said another PE has been registered against the then Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) VK Sibal, RIl and other unknown persons in connection with alleged favours shown by the DGH to RIl and the quid-pro-quo.
A PE has also been initiated in connection with alleged working of touts and middlemen and kickbacks in the aviation sector against Radia, Ramesh Nambiar, a former Air India official, Deepak Talwar and unknown officials of Civil Aviation Ministry.
Another PE has been registered by the CBI’s Mumbai unit against Radia into alleged market manipulation and hammering of stocks of Unitech.
The CBI’s Chennai unit has started a probe into the matter related to supply of low floor buses by Tata Motors to Government of Tamil Nadu under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme. A top official of Tata Motors Ravi Kant has been named as an accused, the sources said.
The agency has named a chartered accountant Rajiv Gupta, unknown public servants and private persons in a PE for alleged criminal misconduct in respect of surveys and raids conducted by Income Tax department. The allegations against Gupta include provision of accommodation entries to bogus companies and cash payment to various persons, the sources said.
Another enquiry related to payment of illegal gratification paid to Income Tax Department officials to get the works done has also been initiated against unknown public servants and private persons, they said.
A PE has also been registered against another CA Anil Bansal, unknown public servants and other private persons for alleged criminal misconduct. The CBI move comes after a Supreme Court directive to probe issues of criminality relating to Radia tapes.