NEW DELHI (TIP): Of the five companies raided on September 4, three belong to one family – the Nagpur-based Jayaswals. Split in two businesses, they are among the largest beneficiaries in the coal block allocations, holding 10 blocks with more than 900 million tonnes of coal. What is more striking is that they managed to get such a large allocation with only one project running on the ground. Outside Raipur, in the smog-filled industrial area of Siltara, exists a steel plant run by Jayaswal Neco company. Headed by the family patriarch Basant Lal Jayaswal, the company is managed by his son Ramesh Jayaswal. Until a few years ago, Ramesh’s elder Manoj was part of the Neco Group.

But following a family feud, he branched out, taking control of companies under the banner of Abhijeet Group. Business circles in the region believed the brothers had parted on an acrimonious note and that their businesses, Neco and Abhijeet group, were separate. But on Tuesday, when an unknown company AMR Iron and Steel was raided, and journalists scoured through its returns filed with the registrar of companies, they discovered that the brothers jointly held stake in the company, with their father and family. People in Nagpur are now speculating if AMR in the company’s name stands for ‘Arvind, Manoj, Ramesh’. Arvind is their older brother. But the larger question is how did one family corner 10 blocks.