Hyderabad: Film director Dasari Narayana Rao, who celebrated his 67th birthday on Sunday, had claimed that he had nothing to do with the coal block allocation as the Prime Minister was in charge of the coal portfolio during the time of allotment.
He had said the screening committee of senior IAS officials had forwarded the recommendations, which he had forwarded to the PM.
The ED has also named members and officials of the 35th screening committee (government constituted multi-member body) in the FIR, said sources.
Others named in the complaint include Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, Sowbhagya Media Ltd, besides unknown persons.
During the course of the investigation, the ED will also look into the issue of any foreign exchange “contravention” by these firms who have been asked by the agency to furnish relevant documents, added sources.
The same charges had been made by the CBI in its criminal complaint under the Prevention of Corruption Act against these individuals and firms.
The ED officials have started to verify banking and other transactions made by the accused firms and individuals.
The ED, till now, has registered similar cases under the PMLA against all those who have been booked by the CBI in the coal block allocation case.
The other firms against whom the cases have been registered include Castron Technologies Ltd, Jharkhand Ispat Private Limited, Pushp Steel and Mining Pvt Ltd, RSPL, Grace Industries, Jharkhand Ispat, Green Infrastructure, Hindalco, BLA Industries and Nav Bharat Power Private Limited.
The agency, according to sources, has taken cognisance of the 17-plus FIRs filed by the CBI in this case and it will investigate whether these firms laundered illegal money and generated “proceeds of crime” in the process of coal allocation.
The CBI had registered FIRs after it conducted three preliminary inquiries related to coal block allocations between 2006 and 2009, 1993 and 2004 and projects given under a government scheme.
