The CBI Sunday registered a case against two private companies and some unidentified public servants in its ongoing probe in the alleged coal scam case and conducted searches at five places in West Bengal and Jharkhand.The agency registered the case against Electrosteel Castings Ltd, Electrosteel Steels Ltd and some unknown public servants under sections of cheating, criminal conspiracy and Prevention of Corruption Act in its probe related to Parbatpur coal block - situated in the Jhariya coalfield in Jharkhand.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) teams also conducted searches at the office premises of the companies at five places in Kolkata along with Ranchi and Bokaro in Jharkhand, said a CBI official.Parbatpur is among the 29 blocks being reviewed by an inter-ministerial group from the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) list of 57, which allegedly translated into a loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore to the national exchequer. This block has an estimated reserve of 231 million tonnes.