New Delhi:
The CBI registered a case today against Congress MP Naveen Jindal, his company Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), and former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao.
Mr Jindal has been accused of criminal misconduct, conspiracy and cheating.
Jindal Steel shares closed 15 percent down at Rs 226.
The CBI says that within a year of being allocated a coal block in Jharkhand, Mr Jindal's company invested 2.25 crores in a firm owned by Mr Rao. The agency will now have to establish that the investment was a camouflaged kickback.
The case against Mr Jindal is deeply embarrassing for his party, which has been scalded heavily by "Coal-Gate."
"The FIR against Mr Jindal shows how the Congress loot of the country," said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar. His party has been demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister directly supervised the Coal Ministry for some of the years under scrutiny.
"JSPL, as a law abiding company, is governed by a strong ethical code of conduct," said Manu Kapoor, Jindal Steel's head of external affairs. "This is an ongoing CBI investigation into coal block allocation. At this stage of investigation, JSPL is committed to fully cooperate with CBI."
The CBI has said that the government's screening committee which assigned coal fields to private firms did not conduct adequate background checks on applicants and made allocations without transparency.
In its 2007 application for a coal block in Birbaum in Jharkhand, JSPL allegedly stated it had already got the mining rights for three coal blocks, whereas it had licenses for six coal blocks by then, according to the CBI.
Mr Jindal has been accused of criminal misconduct, conspiracy and cheating.
Jindal Steel shares closed 15 percent down at Rs 226.
The CBI says that within a year of being allocated a coal block in Jharkhand, Mr Jindal's company invested 2.25 crores in a firm owned by Mr Rao. The agency will now have to establish that the investment was a camouflaged kickback.
The case against Mr Jindal is deeply embarrassing for his party, which has been scalded heavily by "Coal-Gate."
"The FIR against Mr Jindal shows how the Congress loot of the country," said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar. His party has been demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister directly supervised the Coal Ministry for some of the years under scrutiny.
"JSPL, as a law abiding company, is governed by a strong ethical code of conduct," said Manu Kapoor, Jindal Steel's head of external affairs. "This is an ongoing CBI investigation into coal block allocation. At this stage of investigation, JSPL is committed to fully cooperate with CBI."
The CBI has said that the government's screening committee which assigned coal fields to private firms did not conduct adequate background checks on applicants and made allocations without transparency.
In its 2007 application for a coal block in Birbaum in Jharkhand, JSPL allegedly stated it had already got the mining rights for three coal blocks, whereas it had licenses for six coal blocks by then, according to the CBI.
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