CBI completes probe in Talabira II case

In its FIR, the CBI had named ex-coal secretary PC Parakh and Kumar Mangalam Birla among others.

Over two months after the special court had directed the CBI to examine the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other former officials of the PMO in connection with the Hindalco coal block allocation case, the CBI on Thursday informed the court that it has completed the probe in the case, complying with court orders.

The CBI on Thursday placed the final compliance report before the Special Judge Bharat Parashar in the coal block case relating to the 2005 allocation of Talabira Block II to Hindalco Industries.

“We have completed the further investigation. We are filing some documents before the court, which have not been filed earlier. We also examined one more witness during the probe, and filing his statements in a sealed cover,” said special public prosecutor VK Sharma.

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The CBI filed the statement of S Jayaram, former CMD of Neyveli Lignite Corporation, one of the PSUs, to whom the screening committee had recommended the allocation of the Talabira II coal block.

The judge has fixing the matter for consideration on March 11. The CBI in its FIR had named former coal secretary PC Parakh, Hindalco Industries, its chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and other unknown persons for the alleged offence of criminal conspiracy.

Kaunain Sheriff M

Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies. With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health. His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award. Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time. Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More

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