NEW DELHI, Jan 27: A week after a chartered accountant was summoned as an accused alongwith ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and others in a coal scam case, a special court today allowed CBI’s plea seeking deletion of his name as one of its prosecution witness.
CBI filed a plea contending that since the court in its order on January 20, had summoned Vaibhav Tulsyan as an accused, his name was required to be deleted from the list of prosecution witnesses filed earlier.
“In view of the submissions made and the facts and circumstances of the case, the name of accused Navin Kumar Tulsyan is ordered to be deleted from the list of witnesses,” Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said.
The court further directed the agency to file before it a fresh amended list of witnesses and ensure that it is supplied to all the accused on the next date of hearing on February 18 when they have been summoned.
It asked the prosecutor to instruct the investigating officer (IO) and supervising officers that the documents to be supplied to the accused are complete in all respect and are legible.
Earlier, the court had summoned Koda, ex-Coal Secretary H C Gupta, former Jharkhand Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and six others, including two serving public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh, as accused in the case pertaining to allocation of coal block to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd in Jharkhand’s Rajhara town.
The company, along with its director Tulsyan and one Vijay Joshi, were also summoned as accused by the court which had taken cognisance of CBI’s charge sheet in the case.
The accused were named in the charge sheet for offences punishable under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The charge sheet was filed two months after the court had returned CBI’s final report in the matter, observing that the agency had failed to give any plausible explanation to its queries.
In its FIR lodged against Vini Iron Steel and Udyog Ltd, CBI had alleged that initially the firm did not have the recommendation of either the Union Steel Ministry or Jharkhand government but the then Jharkhand Chief Secretary, who had attended 36th Screening Committee meeting on July 3, 2008, had signed minutes of the committee that had recommended allocation in favour of the firm.
CBI had alleged that the company had fraudulently claimed an inflated net worth. The ownership of the firm too had changed hands during the intervening period of the 36th Screening Committee. (PTI)
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