Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday lodged fresh FIR in the Coalgate scam. The premiere agency has named Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, NALCO and HINDALCO in its new FIR.

The investigative agency has also filed FIR against the former coal secretary P C Parekh.

Searches are going on in this connection at Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.

CBI sources said the agency has booked Birla as a representative of Aditya Birla Group and his group company Hindalco for alleged corruption in the allocation of Talabira two coal block in Odisha which was allotted to it on November 10, 2005.

The 46-year-old head of the Aditya Birla group will be called in for questioning, CBI sources said.

The agency has booked Birla as a representative of Aditya Birla Group and his group company, aluminium maker Hindalco, for alleged corruption in the allocation of Talabira two coal blocks in Odisha which was allotted to it on November 10, 2005, the sources said.

The blocks were allocated for power production during a meeting of the screening committee, they said.

The USD 40 billion (about Rs. 2.45 lakh crore) conglomerate has denied receiving any FIR and refuted allegations of any wrongdoing.

CBI is probing alleged irregularities in the allocation of 192 coal blocks which were made between 1993 and 2011. The agency has registered three preliminary enquiries relating to allocations between 2006 and 09, allocations between 1993 and 2004 and allocations given to joint ventures.

So far, the agency has registered 13 FIRs arising out of its preliminary enquiries covering allocations between 2006 and 09.

With PTI Inputs