Coal scam: 3 years jail for Jharkhand’s ex-CM Koda
new delhi — Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and excoal secretary H C Gupta were on Saturday sentenced to three years in jail in a coal scam case by a special court which said “white collar crimes” were more “dangerous” to the society than ordinary crimes.
A K Basu, former Jharkhand chief secretary, and Vijay Joshi, a close aide of the ex-chief minister, were also awarded jail terms of three years for indulging in corrupt practices and hatching a criminal conspiracy in the allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Kolkata-based company, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL).
Special CBI court judge Bharat Parashar also imposed fines of Rs5 million, Rs2.5 million and Rs100,000 on VISUL, Koda and Gupta respectively. Joshi will also have to pay a fine of Rs2.5 million and Basu Rs100,000, the court in New Delhi said.
“White collar crimes are in fact more dangerous to the society than ordinary crimes, firstly, because the financial losses are much higher, and, secondly because of the damages inflicted on public morale.
“The average loss from ordinary crimes such as burglaries, robberies and larcenies etc. may run into few thousand rupees only but the loss which the white collar crimes may cause run not only in lakhs but in crore of rupees,” the judge said in his order on the quantum of sentence.
Parashar said, “The convicted persons do not deserve to be extended the benefit of probation.”
The convicts were, however, granted statutory bail for a period of two months to enable them to file appeals in the Delhi High Court challenging the verdict.
With Saturday’s sentencing, Koda would be barred from venturing into electoral politics in the light of a 2013 judgement of the Supreme Court. So far, four out of 30 coal block allocation scam cases
White collar crimes are in fact more dangerous to the society than ordinary crimes, firstly, because the financial losses are much higher, and, secondly because of the damages inflicted on public morale.
Judge Bharat Parashar, Special CBI court
have been decided by the special court, including Saturday’s order, and 12 people and four companies held guilty. After the sentence was pronounced, Koda said that he was sad that he could not prove his innocence despite his best efforts and would approach the high court after perusing the order and consulting his lawyers. — PTI