Coalscam: Court allows CBI's plea to delete witness name

NEW DELHI: A week after a chartered accountant was summoned as an accused alongwith ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and others in a coal scam case, a special court today allowed CBI's plea seeking deletion of his name as one of its prosecution witness.

CBI filed a plea contending that since the court in its order on January 20, had summoned Vaibhav Tulsyan as an accused, his name was required to be deleted from the list of prosecution witnesses filed earlier.

"In view of the submissions made and the facts and circumstances of the case, the name of accused Navin Kumar Tulsyan is ordered to be deleted from the list of witnesses," Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said.

The court further directed the agency to file before it a fresh amended list of witnesses and ensure that it is supplied to all the accused on the next date of hearing on February 18 when they have been summoned.

It asked the prosecutor to instruct the investigating officer (IO) and supervising officers that the documents to be supplied to the accused are complete in all respect and are legible.

Earlier, the court had summoned Koda, ex-Coal Secretary H C Gupta, former Jharkhand Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and six others, including two serving public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh, as accused in the case pertaining to allocation of coal block to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd in Jharkhand's Rajhara town.

The company, along with its director Tulsyan and one Vijay Joshi, were also summoned as accused by the court which had taken cognisance of CBI's charge sheet in the case.

The accused were named in the charge sheet for offences punishable under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.