Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS) The Congress Wednesday distanced itself from Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, who has been named by the CBI in the allocation of coal blocks.

“We don’t interfere in the legal process,” Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury told reporters.

Congress MP from Maharashtra Vijay Darda and 17 other senior executives of five private companies have been named by the CBI in the five First Information Reports (FIRs) registered Monday.

Darda had recently embarrassed the Congress when he praised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi calling him the ‘Lion of Gujarat’.

CBI officials said the agency seized several incriminating documents during raids conducted Tuesday and is planning to question the five companies’ executives, including the Congress MP, in a fortnight.

The CBI was considering summoning them for questioning by Sep 20, the officer said.

The five companies are: AMR Iron and Steel, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog, Nav Bharat Power, JLD Yavatmal Energy and JAS Infrastructure Capital. Vijay Darda, his brother and son, and 15 others have been named as accused, some of them in more than one FIR.

Apart from Vijay Darda, the FIR against JLD Yavatmal mentioned the names of his brother Rajendra Darda, son Devendra Darda, Manoj Jayaswal, Anand Jayaswal and Abhishek Jayaswal.

Vijay Darda had recently stated that he was neither involved in any scam nor had any partnership with Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal or Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai on coal blocks allocation.

The Jayaswals are said to be close to Vijay Darda and his family.

Those named in the FIR against AMR Iron and Steel include Arvind Kumar Jayaswal, Manoj Jayaswal, Ramesh Jayaswal and Devendra Darda.