NewDelhi:According to the sources, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) may question Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik regarding allocation of coal blocks to Aditya Birla group’s Hindalco.

CBI officials, however, said a decision to this effect is yet to be taken. They said Patnaik could be questioned if there was a need to know why he recommended Hindalco for the coal blocks.

 Sources said Patnaik had recommended a “re-look” into the 25th screening committee’s decision to deny coal blocks to Hindalco in 2005.

Former coal secretary P C Parakh kicked up a political storm with his comment that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should also be booked since it was he who finally decided to reverse the committee’s decision and allot coal blocks to Hindalco.

CBI sources said the agency would question Birla and Parakh, but it could take some time as it first wanted to examine documents to gather material evidence.

The agency named people in the FIR on the basis of prima facie evidence, they said.
CBI Director Ranjit Sinha said the case was being monitored by the Supreme Court. All details will be provided in a status report, to be filed later this month. “We registered the FIR on the basis of available material during preliminary enquiry. Further evidence would be gathered during further probe,” he said.