Coalgate scam: CBI raids offices and houses of promoters

The CBI today raided the offices of Grace Industries Limited in Nagpur and Chandrapur and registered fresh cases in coalgate scam against the promoters of the company.

The CBI on Saturday raided the offices of Grace Industries Limited in Nagpur and Chandrapur and registered fresh cases in coalgate scam against the promoters of the company.

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A CBI team arrived from Delhi on Saturday morning and raided the company offices on charges of misrepresenting its net worth and joint venture group to show eligibility for getting virgin coal blocks.

Local CBI sources informed that Grace Industries got a virgin coal block at Lohara (E) in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, adjacent of famous Tadoba tiger reserves. The promoter of the company, Mukesh Gupta later sold out the coal block to Nagpur-based steel company, Sanvijay Industries a couple of years ago.

The Lohara coal block was later cancelled by the union environment and forests ministry, citing that the area comes under “no go” zone and a proposed buffer zone of the famous Tadoba Tiger reserves.

The central agency also raided the house of Gupta at Dhantoli area. It booked Gupta for cheating, criminal conspiracy and prevention of corruption act in the fresh FIRs.

The CBI had registered similar cases against five other companies in the region, including AMR Iron and Steel, JLD Yavatmal Energy, JAS Infrastructure Vini Iron and Steel and Nav Bharat Power for misrepresenting details to get coal blocks.
The CBI has interrogated Manoj Jayaswal and his brothers, the promoters of AMR and Abhijeet Group in Delhi recently in this regard.