Coal scam case: Naveen Jindal, Madhu Koda and 12 others granted bail

New Delhi, May 22: Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal, former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and 12 others were on Friday granted bail in the coal block allocation case by Delhi's Patiala House court.

All the 14 accused, who appeared in connection with the murky coal scam case, were granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each.

The court has asked all of them not to leave country.

While hearing the petition Special CBI Court judge Bharat Parashar said,"Undoubtedly allegations are serious and they (all accused) occupy senior positions. But none was arrested during investigation by CBI, neither they denied to cooperate."

In its charge sheet, CBI has alleged that Jindal had promised Congress support to the then "unstable" Madhu Koda government in Jharkhand in return for a recommendation for allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to his group firms.

The court had asked them to appear after taking cognisance of the CBI charge sheet filed against them. [Coal scam: Jindal, Koda, 13 others summoned as accused]

Koda, then an independent MLA, was chief minister of Jharkhand from September 14, 2006 to August 23, 2008 with the support of Congress, RJD and others.

While summoning the accused, the court had observed that Jindal had prima facie "manipulated" the entire government machinery to procure undue coal block allotment in Jharkhand.

The judge had earlier observed that the charge sheet filed by the CBI prima facie showed that Jindal had played a "pivotal role" in the conspiracy to procure allotment of the coal block in favour of his two group firms, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).

The court had said that prima facie offences under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating) of the IPC read with section 13(1)(c) and 13(1)(d) (criminal misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act were made out against all the 15 accused.

After the court had summoned the accused, JSPL in a statement had said: "We deny all allegations made against our company and its management. We will be availing of appropriate remedy in accordance with law. We have full faith in our judiciary and are confident to come out clean during the process."

OneIndia News
(With inputs from agencies)