COAL SCAM VERDICT: MADHU KODA GETS 3-YEAR JAIL TERM

Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda ( pictured) and ex-coal secretary H C Gupta were on Saturday sentenced to three year’s imprisonment by a special court in New Delhi in a case of coal block allocation. Besides the jail term, the special court also imposed a fine of ~25 lakh on Koda and ~1 lakh on Gupta. Former Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu and Vijay Joshi, a close aide of the then chief minister, were also awarded a jail term of three years for indulging in corrupt practices and hatching a criminal conspiracy in allocating the Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to a Kolkata-based private company, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog.

Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and ex-coal secretary H C Gupta were on Saturday sentenced to three years imprisonment by a special court here in a case of coal block allocation scam.

Besides the jail term, the special court also imposed a fine of ~25 lakh on Koda and ~1 lakh on Gupta.

Former Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu and Vijay Joshi, a close aide of the then chief minister, were also awarded jail term of three years for indulging in corrupt practices and hatching criminal conspiracy in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to a Kolkata-based private company, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL).

Special judge Bharat Parashar convicted the private firm and imposed a fine of ~50 lakh on it.

The convicts including Koda, however, were granted statutory bail for a period of two months to enable them to file appeals in the Delhi High Court challenging the conviction and the jail term.

The convicts were tried for offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of the IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI had said that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007.

It had said although the Jharkhand government and steel ministry did not recommend VISUL’s case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm.

The CBI had said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had concealed facts from the then prime minister Manmohan Singh, who at that time headed the Coal Ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block.

The special court also imposed a fine of ~25 lakh on Koda and ~1 lakh on ex-coal secretary H C Gupta