‘CBI chargesheet silent on whom I tried to induce’

The counsel also alleged that there was contradiction in CBI’s chargesheet.

Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, facing prosecution in a coal block allocation case, Friday told a special court that the CBI chargesheet against him was “silent” on whom he had allegedly tried to induce to give the block to Nagpur-based AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd.

Darda’s counsel Vijay Aggarwal told the court of Additional Session Judge Bharat Parashar that the agency’s chargesheet did not mention the manner in which he had committed the fraud or who the public servant was whom Darda was trying to “induce”. The court was hearing arguments on framing of charges in the case in which the CBI charged Darda, his son Devendra Darda, and Director of Nagpur-based AMR Iron and Steel Manoj Jayaswal as accused under sections of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the IPC and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

“The chargesheet should be clear in what manner I (Darda) have cheated. It does not state whom (public servant) I was trying to induce. Public servants will say whom I was trying to influence but they (CBI) have not brought them here,” Aggarwal said. The counsel’s arguments remained inconclusive and will continue on October 27.

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During the arguments, the defence counsel argued the allegation against Vijay Darda was that he wrote a letter to the PM requesting him to allocate coal blocks to AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd in Maharashtra.

“It was my duty to push for the works to be done in my constituency (representing Maharashtra as Rajya Sabha MP) and no angle of criminality was there in this,” he argued.

The counsel also alleged that there was contradiction in CBI’s chargesheet as on one hand, the agency says Devendra Darda was part of AMR Iron and Steel and on the other, it says Manoj Jayaswal paid money to Vijay Darda and Devendra Darda for exercising personal influence.

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