Col S P Wahi, former chairman of ONGC, and the company (Essar Construction) were also named accused in the case. The hearing is now posted for April 12.

On February 1, special judge S R Mehra had ordered notices to be issued to the accused when they failed to turn up in court following a High Court order. Today, when the matter was called out, Mahesh Jethmalani, counsel for Wahi told the court that his client was present. S R Agarwal, representing Essar was also present, but Ruia was not in place.

Counsel for Ruia sought exemption for his client, even as the CBI counsel R P Dwivedi was asking for a date to befixed for the trial. The judge was inclined to slot one for April, while the CBI sought a date in March.

Again, counsel for Wahi said that his client had come all the way from Delhi for today's hearing, when actually, in January, the special court had posted the matter to April 12.

The confusion seemed have occurred due to the fact that the High Court had ordered the accused to present themselves in the special court on February 1, but the order had not reached the special court. The High Court's order had arisen out of two writ petitions, by Wahi and Ruia, that claimed the CBI chargesheet was flawed. The HC rejected their contentions and ordered them to present themselves in the CBI court on February 1.

The CBI has alleged that Essar was included in the commercial bidding process though it had not qualified on the technical criteria in the first place. ONGC, then led by Wahi, had allegedly lost Rs 21.04 cr by such manipulation, the FIR had alleged.