Coal scam: BJP MLA Dilip Ray likely to face trial

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: BJP’s Rourkela MLA and the then Coal Minister Dilip Ray will be facing a  trial for his alleged involvement in coal block allocation case, national media reports said. A special CBI Court has fixed April 26 to frame charges against Ray in the case.

Besides Ray, the special CBI Court will also frame charges against all the other accused involved in the coal scam. The case pertains to the alleged irregularities in allocation of Brahmadiha coal block in Jharkhand’s Giridh district to Castron Technologies Limited in 1999. In addition to Ray, the others who will face trial are Pradip Kumar Banerjee, the then Additional Secretary and Nitya Nand Gautam, former advisor (projects) in the Ministry of Coal.

Ray, along with other accused, will battle charges under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which stands for abusing of position by a public official.

The court had taken cognizance of the case on January 15 last year, after the CBI had filed the chargesheet a month earlier in December 2015.

In his order dated January 15 last year, Judge Parashar had observed that the decisions by Ray and the other accused in 1999 were made “without keeping public interest in mind”.

The court had also made observations on Castron Technologies in that order, stating that the company had “cheated the government by unlawfully obtaining the allocation of the impugned coal block while entering into a criminal conspiracy with the public servants.”