The Congress party has alleged that 60 lakh tonnes of coal meant for small and medium industries was diverted to industries in other states over the last 14 years, resulting in a scam worth Rs 6,000 crore in Gujarat. Seeking a time-bound probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, the opposition party also demanded that the role of all four chief ministers of Gujarat during the period be investigated.

“This probe should investigate the involvement of all the 4 chief ministers of Gujarat from 2008 till date (Narendra Modi, Anandiben Patel, Vijay Rupani and BhupendraBhai Patel) in this Rs 6,000 crore scam,” Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said, alleging that agencies of the Gujarat government sold coal to industries of other states at a higher price.

Vallabh alleged that 60 lakh tonnes of coal meant for traders and small industries of Gujarat — the average price of which is Rs 1,800 crore at Rs 3,000 per tonne — was sold in other states at a price of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per tonne.

“ED, SFIO, Income Tax, FIU and other agencies should register a case and investigate this Rs 6,000 crore scam as it is possible that the agencies (SNA) have created fake bills for this game and evaded Income Tax, Sales Tax and GST,” Vallabh said.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respond on the issue. “60 lakh tonnes of coal missing! Will the Prime ‘Friend’ Minister say anything on this coal scam,” said Rahul Gandhi on Twitter, citing a news report alleging that 60 lakh tonnes of coal was missing in Gujarat.

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala alleged that of the four private companies authorised to transport coal, the addresses of three were fake. “Rs 6,000 crore coal scam in Gujarat government! 6 million tonnes of coal disappeared. BJP government has authorised 4 private companies to transport coal, the address of three of them is fake. Maybe their answer would be – ‘No one brought coal, no coal came’, Case closed, money digested!” alleged Surjewala.

The news report was part of an investigation by Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar which claimed that Gujarat government officials collaborated with dummy or non-existing companies to send coal to other states.