According to CBI spokesperson, five FIRs have been filedagainst five companies and unknown government officials for alleged cheating.
The agency sleuths were also conducting searches at 30places in ten cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Patna, Hyderabad,Dhanbad and Nagpur, the spokesperson said.
The filing of FIRs comes three months after registration ofa Preliminary Enquiry into the coal scam by the agency on the directions of theCentral Vigilance Commission.
During the Preliminary Enquiry, the CBI was informed by theCoal ministry officials that it had issued show cause notices to some of thefirms which were allocated the mines for explaining the delay in conducting themining work.
Some of the firms, which were allocated coal blocks in 2005,were yet to start mining, official sources said.
The CBI had also examined the past areas of operation ofsome of the companies which were allotted coal blocks in Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, the sources said alleging some of these firms hadbeen set up only for getting coal blocks allocated and the same was latersublet to other companies at a premium.
The agency has already questioned senior bureaucrats whowere overseeing allocation of coal blocks during 2005-09, the sources said.
They said the questioning of the Coal Secretaries, who alsochair the screening committee, was done to understand the issues involved in theallocation of coal blocks during the period and so far the agency has not foundany irregularities on their part.
