Former NDA minister Dilip Ray charged in coal scam case

NEW DELHI: A special CBI Court has decided to frame charges against Dilip Ray, the then Union Minister of State for Coal during the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance ( NDA) for his alleged involvement in the coal block allocation case.

Besides Ray, the special CBI Court will also frame charges against all the other accused involved in the coal scam. The court has fixed April 26 as the date for framing of charges. The case pertains to the alleged irregularities in allocation of Brahmadiha coal block in Jharkhand to Castron Technologies Limited in 1999. Those, in addition to Ray, who will face the trial are Pradip Kumar Banerjee, the then Additional Secretary and Nitya Nand Gautam, former advisor (projects) in the Ministry of Coal. Also, Castron Technologies Limited and its Director Mahendra Kumar Agarwalla will be put to trial, the court has ordered.

Ray is likely to be charged with criminal conspiracy read (120-B) read with criminal breach of trust by a public servant (Section 409 of IPC) and criminal misconduct under Section 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.