Zee media lauds CBI for FIR, nation-wide probe on prime accused of coal scam

As government considers more autonomy to the premier investigating agency, a group of thorough professionals Tuesday registered a case under Section 120-B read with 420 of Indian Penal Code and Section 13(1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act, 1988) against then minister of state for coal Shri Dasari Narayan Rao; Member of Parliament Shri Navin Jindal, director of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL); four Delhi-based private firms; one Hyderabad based private firm, and others, in relation to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in the State of Jharkhand.

Zee Media compliments CBI for its blunt statement, “it is alleged that two steel and iron companies based in Delhi misrepresented facts to get coal blocks. Also, there was alleged investment in a Hyderabad based firm from the group of companies based at Delhi.”

It is the CBI’s assertion of professionalism that while one of the Accused, Shri Navin Jindal, an influential politico-corporates in the country, was overseas on holiday, the Agency’s sleuths were conducting raids at 19 locations in Delhi and Hyderabad.

Only thanks to a thorough CBI probe, the relationships between JSPL, Gagan Sponge, Jindal Realty and New Delhi Exim, besides Saubhagya Media, all booked for alleged cheating and misrepresentation of facts in bagging Amarkonda Murgadangal block in Birbhum district of Jharkhand in 2008, may finally emerge.

Zee Media has consistently focused the Nation’s attention to massive irregularities in allocation of all coal blocks during the period 2006-2009, as has been registered by CBI on reference of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). For this we have been relentlessly attacked by the Accused and his Accomplices within the system. Our Editors have even faced illegal detention and our management has been maligned and unfairly targeted.

Today’s CBI FIR against a resourceful politico-corporate like Shri Jindal reaffirms what Zee Media, and discerning sections of the Media have consistently reported, as also serious conflict of interest in his continuance inside the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs.

It is equally worrying that in their Report on the so-called paid media, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology leaned on depositions by Representatives of the Accused to recommend a government-mandated Media Regulator in the country. It must be emphasized that the Proceedings were conducted ex parte and the Committee’s Recommendations came out without serving the basic tenet of natural justice, which is to hear both sides.