NEW DELHI: A private contractor has been arrested for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to kill Steel Authority of India Chairman for rejecting “poor quality” coal supplied by the arrestee’s son’s US-based company, police said on Monday. A case under Indian Penal Code sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) has been registered at Hauz Khas police station.
Delhi Police Crime Branch said that Ashok Kumar Singh was arrested from his residence in southwest Delhi’s Vasant Kunj on Friday. Last month, SAIL chairman Anil Kumar Chaudhary was attacked on August Kranti Marg when he was on his way to his residence from office. The same day, police arrested Singh’s associate Sunil Balhara, a property dealer.
Initially, police suspected it to be a case of road rage. “The investigation revealed that it was a planned attack,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, Ram Gopal Naik.In 2018, a Rs 100-crore deal was signed between SAIL and Singh’s son’s company for supplying coal. The officer said that the sample was rejected due to “poor quality”. SAIL had paid the first installment of Rs 30 crore but dissatisfied with the quality of coal sample supplied, the deal was later cancelled, according to police.