Coalscam: Ex-CBI chief ordered closure of case

The probe officer was recording his testimony as a prosecution witness in the case involving Madhya Pradesh-based Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL) and others in which the court had rejected CBI’s closure report and has been proceeding with the trial in the case. The CBI had named as accused KSSPL, its directors, Pawan, Kamaljeet Ahluwalia, Prashant Ahluwalia, Amit Goyal and some unknown public servants in an FIR for allegedly misrepresenting facts, including inflated net worth, to acquire coal blocks. 

The officer told the court that after completing the probe, he had submitted the report to his senior but the final order was received from the ‘competent authority’ to close the case. On being asked by special CBI judge Bharat Parashar as to who was the ‘competent authority’ referred to by the investigating officer (IO), in his examination-in-chief, who had directed to file closure report in the case, DSP Sanjay Dubey said “Ranjit Sinha the then Director of CBI.” 

The controversy regarding Sinha’s alleged meetings with some coal block allocation scam accused at his official residence during his tenure as the CBI director had reached the SC which had constituted a team to look into it. An initial report has been given in the apex court by former special director of CBI M L Sharma-headed panel and it is still continuing with its inquiry into the allegations that Sinha’s meetings with the accused and others had led to botching up of the investigation in the Coalgate cases.