Bengal coal scam: Special CBI court again defers framing of charges till Nov 14

Kolkata : A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Asansol on Saturday deferred the framing of charges in the multi-crore coal smuggling case in West Bengal till November 14.

The matter was postponed as the judge of the special court wanted to give more time to the 50 accused persons in case they want to file a discharge petition in the interim period.

This is the third time that the process of framing charges has been postponed by the special court.

The process was first deferred on May 21 due to the absence of some accused persons. It was again postponed on August 9 for the same reason.

However, on Saturday, all the 50 accused in the case were present in the court. Yet, the matter was postponed again to give them more time to file discharge petitions.

The CBI also faced the ire of the judge for the language used in the summons sent to one of the prime accused in the case, Anup Majhi a.k.a. Lala, for questioning in the matter.

When the judge asked whether the summons was issued over telephone or by issuing a notice for interrogation, Majhi's counsel informed that the notice was sent through email.

After checking the email, the judge expressed his anguish saying that from the language used in the summons, it was not clear whether Majhi had been called as a witness or an accused.

“This is not the proper procedure of issuing summons, as the reason for sending the notice is not clear. The concerned person should know whether he is being summoned as a witness or an accused,” the judge said.

In May this year, the special CBI court had granted conditional bail to Majhi, hours after he surrendered before the court.

The Supreme Court had earlier granted interim protection from arrest to Majhi on condition that he would cooperate in the investigation.

The alleged coal scam in West Bengal is related to illegal mining and pilferage of coal from leasehold areas of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) in Kunustoria and Kajora areas of West Bardhaman district. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating the money laundering aspect of the case.