This is an archive article published on June 2, 2015
Approached by accused in coal block case: Judge
The case involves alleged irregularities in allocation of the Amarkonda Murgadangal block in Jharkhand to two Jindal group companies, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).
The judge did not reveal the identity of the person who approached him or details of the previous instance when this had happened. The judge said that he would not mention the incident in the case record.
The special CBI court judge hearing a case related to the allocation of a coal block in 2008 said on Monday that he had been approached more than once by one of the accused, and warned defence lawyers against such a move being repeated.
The case involves alleged irregularities in allocation of the Amarkonda Murgadangal block in Jharkhand to two Jindal group companies, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).
As special court judge Bharat Parashar started the day’s proceedings, mainly scrutiny of documents, he told the Jindal group’s defence team that “it has happened again”.
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“I am very sorry to say that with such senior lawyers appearing in the case, I had not expected that it would happen, but it has happened again. If this is happening without your knowledge, then I cannot say anything but this was not expected… if you want me to take it on record, I will do it,” the judge said.
The judge did not reveal the identity of the person who approached him or details of the previous instance when this had happened. The judge said that he would not mention the incident in the case record.
Senior Advocate Hariharan, from the defence team, replied, “The management has taken a strong note of it and we are taking action. I assure you that it will not happen again at all.”
Later, a spokesperson for JSPL said: “Neither our company nor our management or any person associated with our company have attempted to influence the honourable court as being alleged in the media. We are law abiding citizens, having regard and respect for the judiciary. We have full faith in the judiciary and we are confident that we will come out clean during course of the trial, on the merits of the case.”
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In the case so far, the special court had taken cognisance of the CBI’s chargesheet and named Rajeev Jain, director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja, director of GSIPL, former minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao and former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda among the accused, apart from industrialist Naveen Jindal.
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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The judge did not reveal the identity of the person who approached him or details of the previous instance when this had happened. The judge said that he would not mention the incident in the case record.
