The CBI has registered a fresh FIR in connection with the coal scam against RPG Group companies after a marathon 10-year-long preliminary enquiry, officials said on Wednesday.
The agency has booked RPG Industries Limited, RPG Enterprises Limited and CESC Limited in connection with alleged irregularities in a 27-year-old allocation process of the Sarisatoli, Tara and Deocha Pachami blocks in West Bengal from 1993 to 1995.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had, on September 19, 2012, referred a complaint of the then Congress MP Sandeep Dixit and six other MPs, seeking a probe into alleged irregularities in the allocation of 24 coal blocks during the 1993-2004 period, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), following which a preliminary enquiry was registered by the federal probe agency on September 26, 2012.
The alleged irregularities in the allocation of the blocks to RPG Industries, RPG Enterprises and Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) Limited were mentioned in the complaint, the officials said.
The FIR, registered after nearly 10 years of the preliminary enquiry, alleged that RPG Industries had requested the coal ministry for captive mining blocks for power generation by CESC in 1992.
The ministry had shortlisted the Sarisatoli coal block for the purpose. Next year, CESC said the earmarked block was not sufficient to meet the needs of the Budge Budge and the Ballagarh thermal power stations and sought an adjacent coal block.
The fourth screening committee meeting considered the request of the company and the Sarisatoli, Tara and Deocha Pachami blocks were "tentatively identified" for Budge Budge and Ballagarh.
The CBI also alleged that RPG Industries attached two separate clearances while seeking the Mahan block for a project in Rajasthan's Dholpur in May 1995.
"Enquiry further revealed that the companies misrepresented about the ownership/development/operation of proposed power plant for getting the coal block allocated. At one place it is mentioned that plant will be developed by RPG Industries, whereas at other places, it is mentioned that the power plant will be developed by CESC," the FIR alleged.
The agency alleged that one of the clearances was in the name of RPG Enterprises, while another was in the name of CESC Limited, the officials said, adding that only CESC was in the business of power generation.
The agency has also flagged other anomalies in the documents submitted by RPG Industries for the Mahan block, the officials said.
