By IANS,
Hyderabad : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday conducted raids on the offices of Nav Bharat Power Pvt Ltd, one of the five companies named by the agency in the FIR in coal block cases.
A team of CBI officials from Delhi conducted raids on the residences of the Nav Bharat executives and seized some documents.
Y. Harish Chandra Prasad, chairman, Malaxmi Infra Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, who has been named in the FIR along with P. Trivikrama Prasad, was not available for comment when IANS tried to contact him on his phone.
Nav Bharat is a joint venture between Malaxmi and Nava Bharat Ventures Ltd.
The Hyderabad-based Nav Bharat was allotted Rampia and Dip side of Rampia blocks in Orissa when Dasari Narayana Rao was union minister of state for coal in the first United progressive Alliance (UPA-I).
According to the CBI, the promoters of Nav Bharat sold their stakes in the company to Essar Power after the coal blocks were allotted to them and in the process, hiked the price of their personal stakes, while devaluing the company’s share price.
In 2010, Essar Power Limited acquired 100 percent stake in 2250 MW coal-fuelled Navabharat power project in Orissa.
The $2 billion project being set up in Dhenkanal district of Orissa project includes the allocation of the Rampia coal block of 112 million metric tonnes and a 4.7 million metric tonnes per annum coal linkage with Coal India Ltd.
Meanwhile, Dasari Narayana Rao sent a statement to the media, denying reports that the CBI raided his residence or questioned him. The filmmaker-turned-politician described the reports as baseless.
He allegedly played a key role in allocation of coal blocks between 2006 and 2009.