Court rejects plea to summon Soren, Rao as accused in coal block case

New Delhi, Nov 10: A special court here on Thursday dismissed the plea of a firm seeking to summon former Coal Minister Shibu Soren and Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao, as additional accused in a coal block allocation case and slapped a fine of Rs one lakh on it.

Rejecting the plea of JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Bharat Parashar told them to deposit the fine with the Delhi Legal Service Authority.

Yavatmal Energy had moved an application alleging that then bureaucrats had apprised Soren and Rao that the existing system of coal blocks was discriminatory but both the politicians had overruled the concerns.

The court was hearing a case related to alleged irregularities in allocation of Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh to the firm.

Meanwhile, the court framed charges dealing with cheating, criminal conspiracy and various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against former Congress MP Vijay Darda, his son Devendra Darda, former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, former Coal Ministry officials K.S. Kropha and K.C. Samria, JLD Yavatmal Energy Ltd and its Director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal.

The CBI had alleged that JLD Yavatmal had wrongfully concealed previous allocation of four coal blocks to its group companies in 1999-2005.