New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday acquitted former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, former Joint Secretary, Coal, K.S. Kropha and then Director, Coal Allocation, K.C. Samaria in a case related to alleged irregularities in the allocation of Mahuagarhi coal block in Jharkhand.
However, firm Jas Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd (JICPL) and its then-Director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal were convicted for the offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy by the Rouse Avenue court.
Special Judge Sanjay Bansal will hear the arguments on the quantum of sentence on July 8.
The case was lodged following a Preliminary Enquiry conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the reference of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in the matter of allocation of coal blocks to the private companies.
The allegations in the case were that the JICPL had misrepresented facts in its application form in order to qualify and obtain undue benefits in connivance with unknown public servants.
The JICPL, in order to embellish its claim for allocation of coal blocks, “fraudulently” claimed that it was a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) managed by Inertial Iron & Steel Industries Pvt Ltd and IL & FS Group. The company would not have pre-qualified for the recommendation of the Union Ministry of Power but for this deception.
The Preliminary Enquiry had suggested that Coal Ministry officials, in pursuance of criminal conspiracy, willfully and purposefully, did not scrutinise the documents regarding the concealment of facts by the JICPL and thus facilitated the private company in getting undue advantage in allocation of the Mahuagarhi coal block. In December 2016, the trial court had framed charges in the case for alleged offences under sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
(IANS)
