Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 9 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday began its probe into the allegations against the Director General of Hydrocarbons, V.K. Sibal, that he took “favours” from Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries.
“All we can say is that we have begun inquiry into the matter and for the same we received a letter four days ago from the Central Vigilance Commission,” a CBI spokesman told IANS here.

However, he refused to reveal further details. Some unconfirmed reports suggested that a CBI team Friday visited the office of Sibal.

Efforts to contact Sibal remained fruitless.

The Anil Ambani group is fighting a bitter legal battle with Reliance Industries for securing 28 million units of gas a day from the Krishna-Godavari basin for 17 years at $2.34 per unit.

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) had sought a thorough probe by the home ministry into alleged partisan conduct of Sibal and said it would file a criminal case against him for defamation.

Sibal came under spotlight after RNRL accused him of hiking a capital expenditure towards the exploitation of natural gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin.

Sibal has denied wrongdoing on his part or that he accepted any undue favour as alleged now by the Anil Ambani Group, such as a stay for his daughters at the premises in Mumbai owned by the associates of Reliance Industries.

In a petition in the Supreme Court, the Anil Ambani group had contended that in order to make huge profits from the Krishna-Godavari gas fields, Reliance Industries had hiked the capital expenditure from $2.4 billion to $8.8 billion.