Coal scam: Court dismisses MP Vijay Darda's plea to go abroad

NEW DELHI: A special court today dismissed a plea of Congress MP Vijay Darda, accused in a coal scam case, seeking its nod to go abroad for business purposes after CBI opposed it saying he held a diplomatic passport and cannot travel abroad for personal work on it.

The agency said that diplomatic passport can be used for official purposes only and Darda, a Rajya Sabha MP, cannot travel offshore on it for personal business work.

"He (Darda) is using a diplomatic passport which cannot be used for his personal business purposes. It can be used for official purposes only," senior public prosecutor A P Singh told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar.

In his plea filed through advocate Vijay Aggarwal, Darda had sought permission to travel to Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia from September 26 to October 6 for business purpose.

During arguments, Darda's counsel said a person cannot have two passports and if his client is holding a diplomatic passport, he would travel on it only.

"Their (CBI's) concern should be whether trial is getting hampered or not or whether I (accused) am going to influence anyone. There is no such apprehension raised by CBI," Aggarwal said, adding "when I (Darda) have a diplomatic passport, I can travel on that passport only."

The prosecutor told the court that since Darda's name was in the status report filed by CBI before the Supreme Court, he should not be allowed to go abroad as he may be required here for inquiry.

Darda, along with others, is accused in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh to M/s JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd.

The other accused in the case are -- Vijay Darda's son Devendra Darda, former Coal Secretray H C Gupta, two senior public servants, K S Kropha and K C Samria, businessman Manoj Kumar Jayaswal and the company Yavatmal Energy.

The accused were earlier granted bail by the court which is scheduled to hear the case on September 29.