The CBI on Thursday filed a second chargesheet in the coalgate against AMR Iron & Steel Pvt Ltd naming Congress MP Vijay Darda, his son Devendra Darda, its directors Manoj Jayaswal, Ramesh Jayaswal, Arvind Jayaswal and others as accused. The accused were chargesheeted under IPC Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) 420 (cheating, fraud) and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The CBI in its FIR had alleged that AMR Iron & Steel Pvt Ltd fraudulently concealed facts about coal block allocation to other companies controlled by its directors during the Screening Committee meeting of the Coal Ministry.
The FIR was lodged against AMR directors and unknown officials of the Coal Ministry. Special CBI judge Madhu Jain put the matter for consideration in May.
“The inquiry revealed that AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd had misrepresented/concealed facts in its application form in order to qualify and obtain wrongful gains/undue benefits in connivance with unknown public servants,” the CBI FIR had stated.
AMR Iron was allocated coal block in Bander, Maharashtra jointly with Century textiles and JK Cements in July 3, 2008. AMR was incorporated in 2003 under the Companies Act and its ownership is jointly held by Jayaswal and his family members.
At the time of allocation of Bander coal block, the group companies of AMR Iron & Steel Pvt Ltd had been allocated five coal blocks. But, the company concealed the fact of previous allocations to avoid the Screening Committee’s scrutiny.
AMR Iron officials had told the Ministry that the Company was not a part of the Jayaswal group, but its equity was held by the Lokmat Group, Abhijeet Infrastructure Ltd and IL&FS. In its initial probe, the CBI said facts regarding the equity participation and previous allocation of coal blocks were concealed by the company in its application form.