The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday registered two new cases in the alleged coal allocation scam.

“Two regular cases have been registered in the coal allocation case against BLA Industries and its Managing Director, Castron Technologies, Castron Mining, and some unknown public servants and private persons,” sources told Business Line .

Till now, the CBI has filed around 15 cases in the alleged multi-crore scam. The first case was registered on September 4, 2012. However, no chargesheet has been filed till now.

The latest case is under the inquiry of the coal block during 1993-2005.

“The allegations are that undeserving companies were given coal block allocations. BLA was permitted to sell the coal in the open market against the principle of captive mining,” the source added.

On Wednesday, searches are being conducted at Dhanbad , Narsinghpur (MP), Mumbai and Kolkata.

BLA Industries Pvt Ltd is a Mumbai-based firm with interests in coal mining. On June 6, 1996, the company was allocated two blocks -- Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) mine in Madhya Pradesh with 5.15 million tonnes and 4.19 million tonnes of reserves, respectively.

Similarly, on September 1, 1999, Castron was allocated Brahmadiha open cast mine in Jharkhand with 2.215 million tonnes reserve.

siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in

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