Court Issues Notice to Seven Leaders Including Ravneet Singh in Coal Block Case

The Rouse Avenue Court in New Delhi has issued notices to seven political leaders, including Minister of State Ravneet Singh, regarding a CBI closure report on alleged coal block allocation irregularities.

Details of the Case

Special CBI judge Arun Bhardwaj issued the notice to Ravneet Singh, Manickam Tagore, Sandeep Dikshit, Harish Chaudhary, Ch. Lal Singh, Raghuveer Singh Meena, and Ijyaraj Singh for August 20. The case involves M/s Nippon Denro Ispat Limited, which has since merged with JSW Steel Limited.

Background

In 2012, seven MPs, including Sandeep Dikshit, filed complaints alleging irregularities in coal block allocations from 1993 to 2004. The CBI’s investigation found no evidence of criminal conspiracy, cheating, or abuse of official position by any public servants or private entities.

Further Investigation

Another complaint by Sandeep Dikshit in September 2012 listed 24 coal blocks for further investigation, but the Khiloni coal block, the subject of this case, was not included. The court noted that the initial complaint was signed by seven MPs, while the later letter was signed only by Dikshit.

The CBI registered a Regular Case (RC) following a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) based on a reference from the Director of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The court decided that a notice to the complainants was necessary before considering the closure report.