Unsatisfied with the written responses of TKA Nair, former advisor to PM Manmohan Singh, the CBI has questioned him seeking clarifications on the alleged irregularities in the coal block allocation.
A questionnaire was earlier sent to Nair seeking his responses on delay in auctioning of coal blocks, missing coal files and circumstances leading to the allocation of coal blocks to Hindalco, an accused company in one of the cases related to the coal block allocation scam cases. Nair was questioned by the CBI last month seeking clarification on his replies to the questionnaire on the issue.
“TKA Nair had been examined last month with reference to certain clarification on some of the replies given by him earlier on the questionnaire sent by CBI in coal case,” a CBI official said. Agency sources said on the analysis of Nair’s responses, the CBI felt the need to seek clarification on a number of points as the responses were not clear to the investigating officers.
The sleuths then quizzed Nair twice in June to record his clarifications on the issues flagged by the investigators. The allocation to Hindalco, as also other coal blocks, was made when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh headed the coal ministry. The CBI has not ruled out questioning Singh. The CBI questioned Nair on the rationale to grant Odisha-based Talabira coal blocks to Hindalco despite the private company’s claims being rejected by the Screening Committee earlier, the sources said.
It is alleged that the only material change that took place between rejection of Hindalco’s application by the screening committee and allotment to the private sector company were two letters routed to the then Coal Secretary PC Parakh through the PMO and his personal meeting with Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, the sources said. CBI has registered 20 FIRs as part of the three preliminary enquiries (PEs) related to coal block allocation between 2006 and 2009, between 1993 and 2004 and projects given under a government scheme for allotment to joint ventures between PSUs and private players.
The agency has filed charge sheet in two cases while in four it had filed closure reports. Remaining 14 cases are under different stages of investigation.