Coal Scam: Court Grants Bail To Directors Of Adhunik Ltd

New Delhi: Two directors of Adhunik Corporation Ltd, who were summoned as accused in a coal scam case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Patrapara coal block in Odisha to the firm, were today granted bail by a special court.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar granted the relief to Nirmal Kumar Agarwal and Mahesh Kumar Agarwal on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each with surety of Rs 1 lakh.

Both the directors, who are authorised representatives of Adhunik Corporation Ltd, appeared today in court in pursuance to the summons issued against them last month.

While granting bail, the court said that the accused will not leave the country without its prior permission.

During the brief hearing, the CBI told the court that they would supply the copies of the documents filed by it along with the charge sheet to the accused today itself.

The court has now fixed the matter for February 15 for scrutiny of documents by the accused.

The court had summoned the firm and its two directors for alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged documents) of the IPC.

In its charge sheet, the CBI said the 30th Screening Committee had recommended M/s Adhunik Corporation Ltd for part allocation of Patrapara coal block.

"During the course of investigation, it was found that M/s Adhunik Corporation Ltd had misrepresented on various aspects both to Ministry of Steel and thereby to Ministry of Coal with a view to cheat them so as to procure allocation of Patrapara coal block," CBI had said in its charge sheet.

While taking cognisance of the charge sheet, the court had discharged another director of the firm, Ghanshyam Das Agarwal, who was also chargesheeted by CBI in the case, saying there was no sufficient incriminating evidence on record which could lead to his summoning as an accused in the matter.