 "Naveen Jindal quizzed by CBI in coal scam")
A person close to the development said yesterday, Jindal returned from London early morning and stayed away from the media glare. Till last evening, CBI had maintained summons had been sent to Jindal and it was awaiting his arrival. Yesterday, however, CBI officials confirmed his arrival in India. "Locked cupboards in his premises were opened in his presence on Thursday," said an official.
A company spokesperson confirmed Jindal had returned to Delhi but could not confirm JSPL's joint Managing Director, Anand Goel, had resigned. On Goel's resignation, Rashika Kaul, head (external communications and media relations), JSPL, said in an emailed-response, "He is very much in the office and part of the org anisation." She, however, didn't deny he had resigned from the post of joint managing director.
On June 11, CBI had carried out raids and registered a first information report (FIR) against Jindal and Dasari Narayana Rao, former minister of state for coal and a Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh, for cheating, criminal conspiracy and misconduct in securing the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand. Five private companies were also named in CBI's FIR.
Between 2006 and 2009, this was the twelfth case registered by CBI in its probe into the coal block allocations.
In the FIR, the agency named unknown officials of the screening committee and unknown directors of the private companies.
CBI investigations revealed JSPL and Gagan Sponge Iron had misrepresented facts and provided wrong information about the company's land, water supply and previous allocations to secure the coal block in January 2008. Naveen Jindal was the signatory in all the documents submitted to the coal ministry.
The investigative agency found Jindal group companies had bought shares in Saubhagya Media, a company owned by Rao, at an inflated price of Rs 100 a share, at a time when the quoted price was just Rs 28 apiece.
Further probe helped CBI establish a money trail that showed alleged kickbacks of Rs 2.25 crore had been received by Saubhagya Media from Jindal group companies, including JSPL, Gagan Sponge and New Delhi Exim. All the five companies have been named in the FIR.
These transactions took place within a year of the coal block allocations to JSPL and Gagan Sponge Iron.
In a June 11 statement, JSPL's head of external affairs, Manu Kapoor, had said: "JSPL, as a law-abiding company, is governed by a strong ethical code of conduct. This is an ongoing CBI investigation into the coal block allocation. At this stage, JSPL is committed to fully cooperating with CBI." CBI is also questioning H C Gupta, former coal secretary.
Last week, Gupta resigned as a member of the Competition Commission of India. The bureau also alleged Rao influenced the committee's decision in the coal block allocation. Since Rao was only a minister of state and the ministry's Cabinet charge was with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CBI has also questioned two former officials in the Prime Minister's Office.
Earlier, CBI had conducted raids at 19 locations in Delhi and Hyderabad, including the residences of Jindal and Rao.