Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused the Mamata Banerjee government of favouring infiltrators over the native population in West Bengal, asserting that the upcoming assembly election is a battle to save the state's identity.
Did the principal secretary to the prime minister authorise the controversial meeting a joint secretary at the PMO had at the CBI headquarters to discuss the coal scam report, asks T V R Shenoy.
The Chhattisgarh High Court has granted bail to Saumya Chaurasia, a former deputy secretary in the CMO, in two cases related to the alleged liquor scam being investigated by the ED and EOW.
Replying to questions on Dr Singh's statement on Thursday that he was ready to face CBI in the matter as he has nothing to hide, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Soorjewala said that the prime minister has "stated the obvious as nobody in the country is above the law".
The Delhi high court on Tuesday suspended the three-year jail term of former Union minister Dilip Ray in a coal scam case pertaining to irregularities in the allocation of a Jharkhand block in 1999.
Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency alleged.
Following the Supreme Court's clean chit in the coal block allocation case, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has lauded former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's integrity and accountability, drawing a sharp contrast with the Narendra Modi government's operational style and alleged misuse of investigative agencies.
The coal-scam has taken an important turn as the Central Bureau of Investigation has charge-sheeted former bureaucrat P C Parakh and industrialist Kumarmangalam Birla. The next big thing is to see that if the coal-blocks allotted, fraudulently, are cancelled or not either by Supreme Court or by the government as pre-emptive action.
CBI has registered 18 FIRs so far in the coal scam.
The CBI opposed the plea seeking summoning of former prime minister Manmohan Singh and two others as additional accused in a coal scam case.
The apex court-appointed panel is investigating alleged scuttling of probe into coal block allocation scam cases by Sinha whose meetings with accused persons have been held as "completely inappropriate".
A day ahead of filing a crucial affidavit in the Supreme Court on coal scam which has rocked the United Progressive Alliance government, Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ranjit Sinha on Sunday affirmed that the agency's probe into the matter was "clean and clear" and that no accused or suspect had been let off.
Under attack for allegedly meeting officials of companies accused in 2G scam, Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ranjit Sinha on Thursday said that he would recuse himself from the ongoing probe in Coal scam if the Supreme Court ordered so.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has strongly condemned the arrest of Vinesh Chandel, co-founder of I-PAC, alleging it is a politically motivated act of "electoral sabotage" ahead of the West Bengal elections.
Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee has criticised the arrest of Vinesh Chandel, co-founder of I-PAC, alleging it's a politically motivated attempt to intimidate the opposition and undermine the fairness of the upcoming West Bengal elections.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to file its status report in the coal scam before the Supreme Court on Tuesday stating details of its 14th FIR against Hindalco and others and also progress in the remaining 13 cases.
The Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the home of its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata as part of a money laundering probe into an alleged multi-crore rupee coal pilferage scam.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to question Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal on Friday in connection with a case of alleged cheating and criminal conspiracy in bagging Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Birbhum in 2008.
The court has now fixed the matter for scrutiny of documents on September 29.
The FIR relates to allocation of Talabira II and III coal blocks in 2005.
An impartial probe into the coal scam can only take place once Prime Minister Manmohan Singh steps down from office, Bharatiya Janata Party said on Friday in reaction to his offer to face CBI in a coal block allocation case.
The Trinamool Congress MP, considered number 2 in the party, also advised Shah to teach nationalism to his son and make sure that the law and order situation improves in Delhi.
Turning her guns on the Election Commission, Banerjee alleged that the BJP had "stolen" the mandate in Maharashtra with the poll panel's help and was now attempting to replicate it in Bengal through the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise by deleting genuine voters' names.
The CBI on Friday told a special court that former coal secretary H C Gupta had allegedly concealed facts from then prime minister Manmohan Singh.
The court noted that Gupta made 'dishonest misrepresentation' before the then prime minister.
This is the first coal scam case in which the special court has delivered its judgement.
According to sources in the agency, the counsel had been briefed about its stand which includes informing the apex court about 'certain moles' in the probe agency who were providing documents to people outside.
The central government has admitted before the Supreme Court that 189 out of the 236 documents sought by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing coal block allocation scam, is "not-available".
The CBI had interrogated Rujira in February last year ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections.
'Officers have been made the scapegoat for political failure.' 'No effort has been made to find out who scuttled the prime minister's decision to introduce competitive bidding and why and at whose instance.'
Since the court had earlier questioned distribution of mining rights through the screening committee route, experts say the solution worked out would be weighed on the basis of legality.
Congress Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal and former minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao have been named as accused in the fresh FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the coal allocation scam. Congress Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal and former minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao have been named as accused in the fresh FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the coal allocation scam.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley claimed on Thursday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has to be directly blamed for the huge loss to the exchequer in allotment of coal mines. Swaraj said the PM can't be shielded behind ministers like A Raja or P Chidambaram as he did in the 2G spectrum scam.
In 2014, the Supreme Court of India revoked the allocation of more than 200 coal blocks which were sold by the government
The Central Bureau of Investigation has recorded statements of the then ministers of state in the coal ministry Santosh Bagrodia and Dasari Narayan Rao in connection with the coal block allocation scam.
The BJP has criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, calling her a 'symbol of anarchy' after the Supreme Court questioned her actions during an ED search. The party claims her 'jungle raj' will end with the TMC's defeat in the upcoming assembly polls.
Terming the replacement of its officer supervising some cases pertaining to the coal mining scam as a "routine affair", the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday said he had completed his tenure and left because of "family reasons", even though an extension was offered to him.
A Delhi court rejected I-PAC co-founder Vinesh Chandel's interim bail plea in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam, citing a lack of exceptional humanitarian grounds.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the TMC, accusing the party of looting West Bengal for 15 years, destroying the state's identity through corruption and infiltration, and turning Jadavpur University into a symbol of disorder.
A change in recommendation in favour of Birla did certainly happen but the question is whether it was a bona fide decision. Jyoti Mukul reports
