The CBI will not file a closure report against top industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary PC Parakh despite PMO’s clean chit to them.
The agency has booked Hindalco, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and PC Parakh in its 14 FIR for criminal conspiracy and graft for alleged irregularities in the coal block allocation.
Denying media reports speculating closure of the high-profile coal case, CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad on Monday said, “We are in the process of investigating every aspect of the case and will apprise the Supreme Court on the status of investigation.”
The statement comes after the PMO justified allocation of the block to Hindalco claiming the decision was “entirely appropriate” and based on merits of the case.
CBI Director Ranjit Sinha has also been on record saying, “There is a case registered as per the directions of the Supreme Court, we are investigating it. Parakh made a U-turn by first rejecting the application of Hindalco and then allotting the block to it. If Parakh explains the U-turn and if there are no material evidence against him after CBI investigations, we will inform the court and may file a closure report as we have done in many cases in the past.”
Sinha has also said that CBI will question whosoever is required for the investigation of the latest case.However, CBI sources have said Parekh could not explain the circumstances under which he contradicted his own decision of first rejecting Hindalco's application and then allocated Odisha-based Talabira II coal block to the private player within six months.
CBI sources said, the agency will file 19 status reports to the Supreme Court on Tuesday including the progress reports in five Preliminary Enquiries related to the alleged irregularities in the award of coal blocks. A status report regarding latest coal case will also be submitted to the apex court.
In its status reports, the CBI is likely to inform the court about completion of the investigation in about half a dozen cases, agency sources said.
The agency has registered 14 FIRs and five PEs to probe the coal scam. One PE has been registered for the alleged irregularities in coal allocation between 1993 and 2005, the other relates to the alleged irregular award of coal blocks between 2006 and 2009 and the agency has registered 13 FIRs as part of this enquiry. The third PE relates to the Government Dispensation category under which blocks were allocated to Joint Ventures formed between Public Sector Undertakings and private companies and the latest coal case against Birla, Parakh and Hindalco falls under this category. One PE each has been registered to probe the missing files between 1993 and 2005 and 2006-09.