With a Delhi special court framing charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy against him in a coal scam case, former Union Minister Dilip Ray today said he had requested the court for speedy trial.
"I was advised by my legal team not to seek a discharge (which would have only delayed the proceedings) and to volunteer myself for a speedy trial as I have complete faith in the judicial system and have done no wrong in nearly four decades of my public life," Ray, who is now a sitting BJP MLA from Rourkela, said in a statement.
Stating that he has undergone immense agony due to his name having been dragged "unnecessarily" into the controversy, Ray said, "My political rivals know fully well that my conduct is above board and I have nothing to hide."
The case against him was made as a minister of state (independent charge) for coal in the NDA government headed by erstwhile Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999.
Ray said, "A representation was made to me as a coal minister by a BJP MP PK Agrawal for the allocation of a coal block. I had just forwarded the same to the department for re-examination."
"The CBI has erroneously alleged that in view of my endorsement of the representation for re-examination, Castron, owned by senior BJP MP P K Agrawal was allotted a coal block whereas the fact is that the allotment of a coal block is decided by a screening committee comprising members from different ministries of the Government of India including those of coal, steel, finance, power, DIPP, forest and environment, chairman Coal India, chief secretary of the state concerned, chairman CMPDI," Ray said in the statement.
The allocation was made by the screening committee, of which he was not a member, Ray said.
He claimed that the grant of this coal block in question was in fact recommended by the Jharkhand government in favour of Castron, as it was an abandoned coal block from which coal was regularly being looted by the coal mafia.
The state government wanted legal utilisation of this block, Ray said.
He alleged that long after he returned to Odisha politics, the "scam-ridden" UPA government out of sheer political vendetta forced the CBI to dig out something to malign him and its predecessor NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and an FIR was registered in September 2012.
Later, a charge sheet was filed in December 2014 (15 years after the said decision) and today charges were framed, he pointed out.
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