Coal scam: Court extends Jindal's travel abroad by 3 days

NEW DELHI: Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal, an accused in a coal block allocation scam case, was today allowed to extend his travel abroad by three more days for business purposes by a special court.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar, who had earlier permitted Jindal to visit the UK and Switzerland from January 16 to 23 while imposing certain conditions on him, allowed his plea for extension of the relief till January 26.

The plea also sought permission to travel the US which was allowed by the court.

Jindal has been asked to inform the investigating officer and the court about his arrival in India within seven days of his return mentioning the details of places visited by him.

"He shall not tamper with the evidence, nor try to influence any witness in any manner and will not use the permission granted to him contrary to the rules," the court said while imposing conditions.

Jindal was earlier granted bail by the court which had imposed several conditions, including that he will not leave the country without the court's nod.

Apart from Jindal, CBI had chargesheeted ex-minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao, ex-Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, former coal secretary H C Gupta and 11 others in the case of alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Private Ltd (GSIPL).

The other individual accused are -- Rajeev Jain, director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, GSIPL directors, K Ramakrishna Prasad, MD of Sowbhagya Media Ltd, and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg. All the accused are at present out on bail.

Besides the nine accused, five firms -- JSPL, Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd (formerly known as GSIPL), Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd -- are also accused in the case.