New Delhi, May 22: Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, former minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao and seven others were Friday granted bail by a special court in a case relating to coal block allocations.
The court granted them the relief after they sought bail on the ground that they have joined the investigation and there was no apprehension that they would flee from justice.
The court asked them not to tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.
Apart from Jindal, Dasari and Koda, the court granted bail to former coal secretary Harish Chandra Gupta and six others on furnishing of a personal bond of `1 lakh each and a surety of like amount.
Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar directed the accused not to leave the country without the court’s prior permission and fixed the matter for June 1 for scrutiny of documents.
The court said undoubtedly the allegations against the accused persons were serious in nature and moreso as they occupied high position in the society. “However, at the same time it is also true that during the course of investigation, none of the accused persons were arrested by CBI and there has been no allegation that they did not join the investigation as and when called for,” it said.
CBI vehemently opposed the bail pleas of Jindal and others saying the accused are high-profile industrialists, politicians and public servants. Senior public prosecutor VK Sharma said most of the prosecution witnesses were employees of various industries of the accused persons and there were chances of tampering with evidence. Also considering the seriousness of the allegations, the accused persons should not be released on bail, he said.
The accused were summoned by the court in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to two Jindal group firms, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd.
The other accused granted bail are Suresh Singhal, director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, Rajeev Jain, director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, both directors of Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd, K Ramakrishna Prasad, the MD of Sowbhagya Media Ltd and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg.PTI
