New Delhi:
CBI on Tuesday filed fresh status report in a sealed envelop in the Supreme Court on coal block allocation scam giving details of the ongoing probe in which companies, business tycoons and bureaucrats have come under its scanner.
The agency also wrote to Prime Minister's Office seeking all the records related to allocation of coal block to Hindalco, three days after the top office said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved it on the basis of "merits" of the case placed before him.
The report is expected to inform the apex court about 14th FIR which was filed recently against against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, his company Hindalco and former coal secretary P C Parakh.
Meanwhile, reacting to CBI's action, Minister of State for PMO V Narayanasamy said, “we have nothing to hide and have already given thousands of documents to the agency."
The agency, which had on the last date of hearing on August 29 faced the ire of the apex court for tardy probe, is also supposed to inform in its status report the progress made in the rest of the cases.
The slow CBI probe into the coal scam had come under sharp criticism of the Court which had said the agency was still in the "first gear" and needed to pick up speed.
The apex court had directed CBI to conclude the probe against all companies, which were allocated coal blocks, by December this year.
"You (CBI) have to pick up some speed. The pace of inquiry is not good. You are still driving in the first gear. Your's is a huge task and all these need to reach the logical conclusion," a bench headed by Justice R M Lodha had said.
After the last hearing a fresh FIR has been filed by the agency against Birla, Parakh and Hindalco alleging that the then coal secretary had overturned his decision while allotting the block to Birla's company.
