Baccha Singh,Kunti Singh

Dhanbad, Jan. 24: The brother-in-law of Jharia MLA Kunti Singh and former urban development minister of the state, Bachcha Singh, is among those being accused of defrauding Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (BCCL) by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

While CBI officials named three BCCL employees, among a dozen others based in Bokaro and Dhanbad, the public sector undertaking today denied receiving any information to that effect from the CBI. Consequently, no action had been taken against them till Wednesday evening.

The CBI, however, claims to have busted yet another coal-supply racket after raiding premises in Dhanbad, Bokaro and far-off Jammu.

SP (CBI) at Dhanbad Ramnath Azad told The Telegraph that investigation had revealed that the accused had secured coal “delivery orders” in favour of 26 industrial units, allegedly based in Jammu & Kashmir. While the orders were secured in 2002-03, inquiries by other central agencies had revealed that the units simply did not exist on the ground. They were all paper organisations, set up to enable the accused to take delivery of coal although they were not entitled to do so.

Following the inquiry, coal supply to the units was stopped. But in 2005, BCCL agreed to refund the money deposited on behalf of the units. It agreed to refund Rs 3.62 crore and set in motion a flurry of activities by the accused to collect the money.

This was curious because since the units had been found to be fake, the money deposited by the fake firms should have been confiscated by the company.

One N.J. Durrani from Jammu produced a power of attorney from the 26 units and claimed reimbursement. Letters of authorisation were also presented from each fictitious firm. The money was released in October 2005 to various branches of banks in Dhanbad and Bokaro.

The FIR lodged by the CBI states that BCCL employees B.M. Jha, R.K. Sahay and A.K. Sinha conspired with the accused to forge documents and falsify accounts to enable the accused to cheat the company.

The employees are also accused of overlooking obvious discrepancies, variation in signatures, difference in the name of account-holders and names of proprietors.

CBI had seized Rs 3.92 lakh from the residence of one of the BCCL employees, R.K. Sahay, said the SP. Thirteen teams involving over 50 CBI officers had carried out the searches, he said. Copies of the FIRs have been sent to the chief vigilance officer of BCCL, claimed the SP, who also informed that further investigation is going on.

Besides B.M. Jha, the finance manager of the BCCL sales department, R.K. Sahay, the sales manager of the legal department and A.K. Sinha, the statistical assistant (clerk in the sales department at the time of the scam), have been named as accused, among others. More BCCL employees could be caught in the dragnet as investigation progresses, claimed the SP.