4 Jindal firms gave same fake address

'28, Najafgarh Road, New Delhi'. This was the address used by four companies of Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal that applied for coal blocks between 2006 and 2009. Two of them — Nalwa Steel and Gagan Sponge — got the blocks using what has now turned out to be a non-existent address.

The other two companies which applied for blocks giving the same Najafgarh address and contact details on their forms were Opelina Finance and Investment Ltd, and Mineral Management Services.

The Jindal-owned Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Jindal Power Ltd (JPL) also applied for coal blocks. JSPL too was allocated blocks by the screening committee.

An e-mail query sent to parent company JSPL remained unanswered. In an earlier reply to The Indian Express, a company spokesperson had said that they had not been contacted by the CBI.

The agency discovered the address anomaly while scrutinising applications submitted by companies as part of its probe. Sources said a fresh batch of FIRs will be filed soon and the agency might seek explanation from JSPL regarding the same.

Apart from discovering that 'Najafgarh Road' mentioned in the applications by the Jindal firms did not exist, the CBI also found that the contact numbers provided by them were registered in other names. One of the landline contacts was found to be registered at a residential address near Uttam Nagar.

JSPL has been allocated five coal blocks — in Gare Palma IV (Chattishgarh), Jitpur (Jharkhand), Amarkonda Murgadangal (Jharkhand), Ramchandi (Odisha) and Urtan North (Madhya Pradesh). While it was allocated Gare Palma with Nalwa Sponge, Amarkonda Murgadangal is being developed by JSPL along with Gagan Sponge.

ALSO READ

CBI chief says report on coal block 'clean and clear'

Party support on track, Bansal, Ashwani to stay

Border face-off ends: India, China withdraw troops, remove tents

Pawar to seek special package for state