CBI names Congress MP in coal block cases, raids 30 sites

Congress MP Vijay Darda and 17 senior executives of five private companies were named by the CBI in cases registered in connection with the allocation of coal blocks, as agency sleuths raided 30 sites belonging to them in 11 cities across the country on Tuesday. More companies and people might come under the scanner, a Central Bureau of Investigation. The first information report registered after three months of the initial probe named the five firms, their directors and unknown government officials as having indulged in misrepresentation and dereliction of duty. The five companies named in the FIR are AMR Iron and Steel, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog, Nav Bharat Power, JLD Yavatmal Energy and JAS Infrastructure Capital. Darda and 17 others have been named as accused, some of them in more than one FIR. The cases followed preliminary enquiry by the CBI of the irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks during the period 2006-09 on the basis of a reference made by the Central Vigilance Commission.