I trust judiciary, political rivalry behind coal block case, says Dilip Ray

Bhubaneswar: Stating the charges framed by the Special CBI court against him in the Brahmadihi coal block allotment case today as an outcome of political vendetta by the Congress-led UPA government, Rourkela BJP legislator Dilip Ray stated he has complete faith in the country’s legal system and urged for a speedy trial in the court.

In a media statement, the BJP legislator said, “I did not file a discharge petition in the coal block allotment case as I have complete faith in the judicial system and not done anything wrong during four decades of my public life.”

Elaborating further, Ray said when he was the Minister of State (Independent charge) for Coal in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ministry at the Centre in 1999, he forwarded a proposal on the coal block allocation, which he got from BJP MP PK Agrawal, to the department for ‘re-examination’.

Later a screening committee comprising secretaries of concerned ministries decided to allocate the Brahmadihi coal block located in Jharkhand to Castron, owned by PK Agrawal, said Ray adding that he was not part of the deciding committee.

Besides, the Jharkhand government had recommended the Centre to allocate the coal block to Castron citing legal utilisation as mafia had been looting coal from the block for past several years, the media statement by Ray mentioned.

“The UPA government, as a political vendetta, pressurised the central investigating agency to dig out something against me to malign my image as well as the predecessor NDA government. Subsequently a case was registered against me in September 2012,” Ray alleged.

The CBI had filed chargesheet in the coal block case against Ray and others in December 2014.