CBI may file 1st chargesheet in coal scam today

More than 18 months after the first FIR in the coal scam probe, the CBI is ready to file its first chargesheet on Monday. It has been timed keeping in mind Monday's hearing in the SC, which is monitoring the probe.

More than 18 months after the first FIR in the coal scam probe, the CBI is ready to file its first chargesheet on Monday. “We are ready to file the first chargesheet in the trial court tomorrow,” a CBI official told HT, adding that it related to the initial lot of FIRs registered by the agency.

The chargesheet has been timed keeping in mind Monday’s hearing in the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the probe.

Read: CBI to send judicial request to Malaysian govt

Last week, the CBI had sought four more weeks to complete the probe in six cases after it missed its March 3 deadline. The court will deliberate on the requested time extension on Monday after it looks at the status of the probe.

In September 2012, the CBI had filed FIRs against five companies — JLD Yavatmal, JAS Infrastructure, AMR Iron and Steel, Navbharat Power Private Limited and Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Limited — and around 20 of their directors and unknown government officials.

In all, the CBI has filed 16 FIRs in the coal scam.

Read: CBI to submit probe status report to SC

The SC will also take up the interplay between the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the CBI. The probe agency had refused to share case details with the CVC — a statutory body empowered to oversee anti-graft probes — since the SC had barred the CBI from sharing probe details with any agency.

The CVC had referred the coal scandal to the CBI after it received complaints from two BJP MPs – Hansraj Ahir and Prakash Javadekar.

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