New Delhi:- A special court today asked CBI to file its response by April 21 on an application to supply certain documents to Himachal EMTA Power Ltd (HEPL), accused in a coal scam case for allegedly misrepresenting facts to acquire a coal block in West Bengal.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar posted the matter after the probe agency submitted that it needed more time to file its reply on the plea filed on April 6 by accused firm, seeking production and supply of the copies of the documents.
The court had on February 29 granted bail to two HEPL Directors, Ujjal Kumar Upadhaya and Bikash Mukherjee, and senior official N C Chakraborty.
After taking cognisance of CBI’s charge sheet in the case on February 5, the court had summoned four accused for alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of IPC.
CBI has chargesheeted HEPL, Upadhaya and Mukherjee in the case but the judge had said “though CBI has not chargesheeted N C Chakraborty in the present case, I do not find myself in agreement with the said conclusion drawn by CBI”.
In its charge sheet, CBI has alleged that HEPL had grossly misrepresented about its status of preparedness, not only in its application form, but also in the feedback form submitted on June 22, 2007 and in the information supplied by Chakraborty to the West Bengal government.
It had alleged Upadhaya and Mukherjee had deliberately conspired with HEPL and submitted false information to the Ministry of Coal (MoC) to secure allocation of Gourangdih ABC coal block in West Bengal in its favour.
According to CBI, M/s Eastern Minerals and Trading Agency Ltd (EMTA) had entered into a joint venture (JV) with Himachal Power Corporation Ltd to establish a power project in West Bengal and the company was named M/s Himachal EMTA Power Ltd.
It has said HEPL, through its January 10, 2007 application, had applied for allotment of Gourangdih ABC coal block
PTI
