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Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, ex-Jharkhand chief secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and six others have been chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a coal block allocation scam case.
The chargesheet was filed before Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar, who fixed it for consideration on December 22 after the investigating officer said that he will file the necessary documents in the case within a couple of days.
Besides Koda and Basu, former coal secretary HC Gupta and two public servants Basant Kumar Bhatacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh have also been chargesheeted as accused.
Director of accused firm Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd Vaibhav Tulsyan and a private person Vijay Joshi have also been named as accused in CBI's final report in which all the accused have been charge sheeted for the offences under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Senior Public Prosecutor V K Sharma told the court that out of the eight accused chargesheeted by the agency two -- Singh and Bhatacharya -- are still in government service, so necessary sanction for their prosecution has been obtained from the competent authority. "In the facts and circumstances of the case, it is directed that IO shall prepare a compilation of the relevant
sets of documents initially for consideration of the present final report by the court," the judge said, adding, "Put up the matter for consideration on December 22".
The CBI's move to chargesheet Koda and others in the case came after the court on September 5 had "returned" its chargesheet filed earlier, saying the agency has failed to give any plausible explanation on its queries.
The case pertains to allocation of coal blocks to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd. in Jharkhand's Rajhara town in which its directors and unknown public servants of the ministry of coal, government of Jharkhand and others were made accused in the first information report lodged by the CBI in September 2012.
Image: Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda