Coal scam: Officials of Steel Ministry, Maharashtra under CBI scanner

CBI is probing role of officials of Maharashtra government and Union Steel Ministry in connection with positive recommendations given to Grace Industries for allocation of coal block despite alleged misrepresentations in the net worth and other details.

CBI sources said the company, which had applied for captive coal block for its sponge iron plant in Maharashtra, had allegedly received positive recommendations from state government as well as officials of steel ministry.

They said the company has allegedly inflated its networth nearly 10-fold to claim eligibility for Lohara East coal blocks.

The sources said such a major increase in the net worth could have easily been noticed by the officials involved in the screening process but they allegedly chose to ignore it and gave positive recommendations which helped the company in bagging the offer.

The sources said the company had allegedly inflated its sponge iron plant capacity and projected nearly double capacity of 12,0000 tonnes per annum whereas actually it was only 60,000 tonnes per annum.

They said steel ministry officials should have been able to pick on this dubious figure which brings them under scrutiny of the agency.

The agency is likely to call for questioning the officials of the Maharashtra Government and Steel Ministry to give their explanation over the recommendations given to the company.

Within one year of getting coal blocks, the company was allegedly sold to Samvijaya group in which the directors made profit of nearly Rs20 crore, they said.

The agency has slapped allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating and sections of prevention of corruption act against the company and its the then directors Mukesh Gupta and Seema Gupta, they said.