New Delhi: A Delhi court Friday framed charges against a Maharashtra-based company and three of its former office bearers for alleged cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy while seeking allocation of three state-based coal blocks in 2005. Special Judge Bharat Parashar directed to put the accused company, Topworth Urja & Metals Ltd, earlier known as Shree Virangana Steels Ltd, and its former officer bearers – Anil Kumar Saxena, Manoj Maheshwari and Anand Nand Kishore Sarda – on trial for the offence of various offences punishable under Indian Penal Code.
The case relates to the alleged irregularities in relation to the allocation of Marki Mangli-Il, Ill and IV coal blocks in Yavatmal District, Maharashtra to the company. The accused persons were the office bearers of the company at the time the coal block was allocated, public prosecutor V K Sharma said.
The company’s name changed after it was sold to Topworth Group. The court, however, discharged three current officer bearers of the company – Surendra Champalal Lodha, Anil Omprakash Nevatia and Swapan Kumar Mittra – citing lack of evidence to put them on trial.
Advocate P K Dubey, appearing for those discharged, had told the court that their clients had duly informed the government about the change in company’s name and structure. There was no conspiracy between the current and the former officers of the company, he told the court.
While ordering to frame charges against other four accused, the court said It is clear that misrepresentations were indeed made on behalf of the applicant/ accused company M/s Topworth Urja & Metals Ltd. (Formerly known as Shree Virangana Steels Ltd.) by accused persons Anil Kumar Saxena, Manoj Maheshwari and Anand Nand Kishore Sarda, and which acts prima facie induced the screening committee and finally MOC to allocate the three coal blocks in favour of the company. It also said that the evidence prima facie shows that accused Anand Nand Kishore Sharda forged various letters and used them as genuine for the purpose of cheating.
The court said that from the very nature of acts, it was also prima facie clear that they all were acting in tandem with the sole object of procuring allocation of captive coal blocks in favour of the company. Simiarly the existence of a criminal conspiracy in between the various accused persons is prima facie evident from the overall facts and circumstances of the case including the acts undertaken by various accused persons, it said.
It added that all the four accused were working with common intention and objective of the criminal conspiracy. Prima facie the said fact is clearly evident from the acts undertaken by the accused persons, it said.
According to the CBI, the case was anoutcome of the preliminary enquiry to look into allegations of irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks between 1993 and 2005. The company was allotted the Marki Mangli coal blocks 2, 3 and 4 in Maharashtra.
CBI had conducted raids in Nagpur, Yavatmal and Mumbai in connection with the case. In the FIR, the agency has alleged the accused “irregularly entered mining lease deeds under the name of Virangana Steels, which did not exist.” CBI had further said the request to change the name of the company to Topworth was not approved by the ministry of coal, on the grounds that there was a change in the shareholding pattern of the company.
CBI had also claimed to have found during its inquiry that the company resorted to excessive mining, without augmenting the capacity of its existing sponge iron plant, in violation of norms.
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