Coal scam case: Delhi HC seeks CBI’s response on pleas of ex-coal secretary, IAS officer against conviction

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the appeals by former coal secretary H.C. Gupta and former IAS officer K S Kropha against their conviction and jail terms for their involvement in irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh.

Admitting the appeals, a bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma issued notice and said that both the appellants will remain out on bail till the matter stands disposed off.

The judge said that the appeals will be listed in due course along with the appeals moved by the other convicts – former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devender Darda and JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd's Director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal.

“Issue notice. The counsel for CBI accepts notice. The appeals are admitted and will come for hearing in due course,” the court said.

When Gupta and Kropha were granted bail by the special judge, they were allowed to challenge their conviction before the high court.

On July 28, the high court granted interim bail to the Dardas and Jayaswal, who were handed four-year jail terms. The court enabled them to challenge their conviction before the high court.

Judge Sharma had issued notice on the pleas moved by the Dardas and Jayaswal against the trial court order convicting and sentencing them in the case.

The court had sought the CBI's response and had directed to file it within eight weeks.

The Delhi court had awarded four-year jail terms to them while Gupta, Kropha and K.C. Samaria were handed a three-year jail sentence. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on M/s JLD Yavatmal.

A fine of Rs 15 lakhs each was also imposed by the special judge on the Dardas and Jayaswal. The other three convicts were directed to pay a fine of Rs 20,000 each.

On July 13, Special Judge Sanjay Bansal delivered the verdict convicting them.

The accused have been held guilty under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court had earlier acknowledged the arguments presented by senior public prosecutor A.P. Singh, stating that the CBI has successfully proven its case beyond any reasonable doubt.

During the hearing on the quantum of punishment, the probe agency had sought the maximum punishment, claiming that Darda and his son had met then CBI Director Ranjit Sinha at his residence to scuttle the investigation. It was further claimed that a witness in the case stated that he was threatened by Jayaswal, who tried to influence him not to depose against him.

On November 20, 2014, the court had rejected the closure report submitted by the CBI in this case. The court had directed the probe agency to initiate a fresh investigation, citing that the former MP Darda had "misrepresented" facts in letters addressed to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also held the Coal portfolio.

According to the court, Vijay Darda, who is the Chairperson of the Lokmat Group, resorted to such misrepresentations in order to obtain the Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh for JLD Yavatmal Energy.

The court had ruled that the act of cheating was carried out by private entities as part of a conspiracy involving both private parties and public servants.

JLD Yavatmal Energy was granted the Fatehpur (East) coal block by the 35th Screening Committee. Initially, the CBI alleged in its FIR that JLD Yavatmal had unlawfully concealed the previous allocation of four coal blocks to its group companies between 1999 and 2005. However, the agency later filed a closure report, stating that no undue benefit had been granted to JLD Yavatmal by the Coal Ministry during the coal block allocation.