A special court in Delhi on Friday came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for failing to impound the passport of Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal, who on Wednesday was charge-sheeted by the probe agency along with 14 others in a coal block allocation scam case. The court noted that the probe agency must adopt a ‘uniform policy’ while seizing passports of accused persons and must not have a ‘selective approach’ while doing so.
A special court in Delhi on Friday came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for failing to impound the passport of Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal, who on Wednesday was charge-sheeted by the probe agency along with 14 others in a coal block allocation scam case. The court noted that the probe agency must adopt a ‘uniform policy’ while seizing passports of accused persons and must not have a ‘selective approach’ while doing so.
The court also directed the CBI director to ensure that a uniform policy is laid down for seizure of passports of accused during the probe not only in the case of coal block allocation but also in general. “It is clear that while a uniform policy which appears to have been adopted by CBI is that passports of all accused are seized by them whenever a case is registered, but in the present case a different policy was adopted for the reasons best known to them,” special CBI judge Bharat Parashar observed.
During the hearing, the agency said that out of total number of accused persons charge-sheeted in the case, passports of two — Rajeev Jain and Suresh Singhal —were seized.
The court fixed the next hearing on May 6 where it will be considering the CBI charge sheet filed in the case against Jindal, former minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao, former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and 12 others in connection with Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block allocation scam case.
Former coal secretary H C Gupta and five firms, including Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, were also charge-sheeted in the case for alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) of IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Six other individuals named as accused in the CBI charge-sheet are Gyan Swaroop Garg, Suresh Singhal, Rajeev Jain, Girish Kumar Suneja, R K Saraf and K Ramakrishna Prasad.
Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar further said that the court does not wish to infringe upon inner workings of the CBI but in order to stop ‘wasting time of the court’ a uniform policy must be laid down in the next 30 days.
“This is not the first case where we have seen selective seizure of passports. In fact, there have been plenty of such cases which only end up wasting valuable time of the court,” noted the special CBI judge. Right before the Jindal’s hearing, the special judge had heard yet another case, CBI vs Vini Iron and Steel, wherein passports of some of the accused had been seized while of the others were not.
Senior public prosecutor V K Sharma informed the court that it was decided in CBI’s office that passport of Naveen Jindal would not be seized during the probe. The investigating officer informed the court that a notice was issued to Jindal to submit his passport before the CBI but after taking some time, he gave a coloured copy of his passport to the agency with a request that his passport be not seized as it was due for renewal.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand’s Birbhum district in 2008 to Jindal Group firms — Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd. The firms charge-sheeted in the case are — JSPL, Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd, New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd and Soubhagya Media Ltd.
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