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Coal-Gate: CBI shares details of Birla case with Supreme Court, say sources

The CBI has reportedly shared details with the Supreme Court about its controversial case against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and the government's former coal secretary PC Parakh.

The agency has said the men conspired to ensure "undue favour" to Mr Birla's firm, Hindalco, which landed two coal blocks in Odisha in 2005. The allocation has been defended by the Prime Minister as "appropriate"; he endorsed the decision because he held direct charge of the Coal Ministry at the time.

Mr Birla and Mr Parakh have denied any wrongdoing; the former Coal secretary has said that if the CBI believes a conspiracy was designed to help Mr Birla, the PM should be made "Accused No 1." The CBI has in its First Information Report or FIR not directly referred to the PM, but has said that the mining rights that were granted illicitly to Mr Birla were approved of by "the competent authority." An FIR is the first step towards the filing of formal charges.

The Supreme Court will examine the CBI's findings on the 29th of this month.

Sources say the allegations against Mr Birla and Mr Parakh are part of the CBI's latest report submitted to the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the agency's investigation into how and why coal licenses were issued at throwaway prices to private firms. The national auditor has alleged a swindle worth Rs. 1.86 lakh crores. The CBI has said the government handed out mining rights without a transparent bidding process, often rewarding firms who lied about their finances and technical qualifications.

Because the Coal Ministry reported to the PM for some of the years under scrutiny, the opposition has been demanding Dr Manmohan Singh's resignation, which says that the FIR involving Mr Birla proves that the PM must be held accountable for the alleged coal scam.

Source:NDTV