Coal scam: CBI seeks court approval to frame charges
The process of framing charges in the coal pilferage scam in the jurisdiction of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) has started today at the CBI Special Court in Asansol.
The CBI on Wednesday filed an additional 20,000 pages documents in the 2006 IRCTC hotels maintenance contract case against former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav, including others.
The additional document which was filed before Special Judge Arvind Kumar is a part of the chargesheet. The court has listed the matter for June 1 for further hearing on consideration on the chargesheet.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April filed chargesheet against 12 people and two companies.
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Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, his son and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, former MD of IRCTC P.K. Goel, Sujata Hotels directors Vinay and Vijay Kochhar, Sarala Gupta — wife of Prem Chand Gupta — a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP, and Lara Projects LLP have been charge-sheeted.
Besides, the CBI charge-sheet also named Additional Member of the Railway Board B.K. Agarwal, who was then Group General Manager (GGM) of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
The CBI also charge-sheeted former GGM of IRCTC V.K. Asthana, R.K. Gogia — then GGM (company secretary) of IRCTC, Ramesh Saxena — then IRCTC Director and Sujata Hotels Pvt Ltd.
The CBI on July 5, 2017 filed a corruption case against Rabri Devi, Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav for alleged irregularities in the allotment of contracts of two IRCTC hotels in Ranchi and Puri in 2006 to a private firm.
The contracts were given to Sujata Hotels, a company owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar, in lieu of a bribe in the form of a three-acre commercial plot at a prime location in Patna district.
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