Extortion case against whistleblower
Four days after the losing a 2,400 MW power plant in Chhattisgarh, Jindal Power Limited has registered a case of extortion against Ramesh Aggarwal, on whose complaint the project was scrapped.
Raigarh police on Wednesday lodged a case of extortion against Aggarwal, after the company’s senior General Manager Sanjeev Chauhan alleged that Aggarwal had demanded Rs five crore, in front of two locals, for not creating a ruckus at a public hearing in May.
The public hearing was for the 2,400 MW project for which the ministry had approved terms of reference (TOR) in March 2009 for obtaining clearance.
Aggarwal had written to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh alleging that the plant’s construction had started at an alternate site, even before the clearance process began.
The ministry’s team found that allegation to be true in an inspection conducted this month and withdrew its TOR as first reported by HT on June 21.
Aggarwal got a shock when police came to investigate a case of extortion against him. “I will fight the case,” Aggarwal said. “If I had demanded money the company should have got a case registered against me immediately. Why they waited till the environment ministry’s action?”
Jindal Power Limited did not respond to HT queries.
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