Coalgate: CBI to submit status report to SC today

The CBI will submit a status report to the Supreme Court today regarding the 14 FIRs and five preliminary enquiries (PEs) it has lodged in its probe into the coal allocation scam.

The CBI will submit a status report to the Supreme Court on Tuesday regarding the 14 FIRs and five preliminary enquiries (PEs) it has lodged in its probe into the coal allocation scam.

The agency is also likely to file a fresh FIR on alleged irregularities into allocation of a Jharkhand coal block to a private firm.

Defending PM Manmohan Singh and industrialist KM Birla in the coal scam, planning commission’s deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday said the decisions were taken considering “demands of different stakeholders” and that it was wrong to paint everyone as corrupt based on CBI’s FIRs.

A CBI source said the agency may inform the court about the completion of probe in around five of the cases and the fact that the missing coal files have allegedly hampered six cases.

The agency’s report will also include details of the 14th FIR — related to irregularities in allocation of Odisha’s Talabira coalfield, the source said.