Overview
- A Delhi special court took cognisance of the CBI chargesheet and issued summons to Naveen Jindal, Jindal Steel (JSPL), former coal secretary P.C. Parekh and others to appear on July 17.
- The CBI filed a chargesheet running to more than 100,000 pages with 778 documents and 234 listed witnesses that alleges criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
- Investigators say JSPL mined about 3.72 million tonnes above authorised limits, worked outside sanctioned coordinates by roughly 88.95 hectares, and overlapped 35.355 hectares earmarked for the Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation.
- The chargesheet alleges a March 2005 Screening Committee decision was influenced after a meeting between Naveen Jindal and the then coal secretary and that mining operations were carried out without required transfer of the lease.
- The case dates to an allotment of the Gare Palma IV/1 block in 1996 and a CBI registration in 2014; the court noted long delays were partly caused by late prosecution sanctions and the probe could now lead to witness statements and trial proceedings.