Coal scam: Court sentences ex-coal secy HC Gupta, others to 2 yrs in jail

Former coal secretary HC Gupta was today awarded two-year-imprisonment by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Delhi in a coal scam case.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parasher also sentenced two senior government officials, KS Kropha and KC Samaria, for two-year imprisonment in the case.

Besides the jail term, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the three convicts.

Besides them, the court imposed a fine of Rs one crore on convicted private firm Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd, while its Managing Director Pawan Kumar Ahluwalia was awarded three-year jail term by the court.

Ahluwalia will also have to pay a fine of Rs 30 lakh.

All the convicts were granted bail soon after the sentence was announced to enable them move the High Court.

Gupta and two serving senior officials were earlier convicted by the court for irregularities in the allocation of of the Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block in Madhya Pradesh to a private firm.

During the hearing, the CBI had alleged that the application filed by KSSPL for the coal block was incomplete and was supposed to be rejected by the ministry as it was not in accordance with the guidelines issued.

The CBI had charged that the firm had misrepresented its net worth and existing capacity, adding that state government had also not recommended the firm for the allocation of any coal block.

The accused, however, denied the allegations during the arguments.

The court had in October last year framed charges against the accused observing that former prime minister Manmohan Singh was kept in the “dark” by Gupta, who had prima facie violated the law and the trust reposed in him on the issue of coal block allocation.

Around eight different charge sheets have been filed against Gupta and proceedings are going on individually. The Supreme Court had recently dismissed his plea seeking joint trial in all these cases.