A special CBI court in Delhi has convicted Abhijit Infrastructure Private Limited and its two directors, Manoj Kumar Jaiswal and Ramesh Jaiswal, in the multi-crore coal block allocation scam in Jharkhand. The company and its directors were found guilty of securing coal block allocations using fraudulent documents. Sentencing will be decided in a subsequent hearing.
The CBI had registered an FIR against the company and its officials in January 2016, accused them of involvement in the illegal allocation of coal blocks. After an extensive investigation, the CBI filed charges in October 2020, stating that the company used forged documents to fraudulently acquire the Vrinda-Sisai-Meral coal blocks in Jharkhand. The fraudulent papers included fake land purchase documents, machinery supply orders, and fabricated financial documents approved by banks, which were used to support their coal block allocation application.
During the trial, the CBI presented 38 witnesses and 74 documents to establish the company’s involvement in the scam. The court’s decision marks a major step in the investigation of the 2016 coal scam, with the Government having suffered financial losses due to the fraudulent allocation. The sentencing for the convicted parties will be decided in the coming days.
