A Delhi court on Friday acquitted former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, ex-Joint Secretary (Coal) K.S. Kropha, and former Director K.C. Samaria in a coal scam case concerning irregularities in the allocation of the Mahugarhi Coal Block in Jharkhand.
This marks Gupta’s second acquittal in cases related to coal block allocations, although he has been convicted in five other similar cases, with appeals currently pending in the Delhi High Court. The CBI has also challenged his acquittal in one of those earlier cases. Out of 19 cases filed against Gupta by the CBI, 12 are still pending trial.
Special Judge Sanjay Bansal, while delivering the verdict, convicted JAS Infrastructure Capital Ltd and its former director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal for cheating and criminal conspiracy linked to the allocation of the coal block. Sentencing arguments are scheduled for July 8.
Currently, 29 corruption cases related to the coal scam are pending before two special courts, while 27 others have been resolved. The Enforcement Directorate has informed the Supreme Court that 45 complaints under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), including supplementary ones, are still pending.
In 2014, the Supreme Court had canceled 214 coal block allocations made by the central government between 1993 and 2010, following two Public Interest Litigations (PILs), and ordered trials by special CBI courts. The number of such courts was later increased to two to handle the volume of cases.
The CBI’s case, filed based on a Central Vigilance Commission reference, accused officials from the Ministry of Coal of corruption in coal block allocations to private firms between 2006 and 2009. The FIR alleged that JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd and its director had submitted false information and concealed facts in their application to secure wrongful benefits in the Mahugarhi coal block allocation.
According to the CBI, the accused company made misleading claims about its financial strength, misrepresented debt appraisal and syndication from financial institutions, and deliberately hid details about previous coal block allocations to related companies. The firm also falsely projected the net worth of unrelated companies such as Inertia Iron & Steel Industries Pvt. Ltd. and IL&FS as its own during the application and screening process.
The prosecution presented testimony from 18 witnesses to support its case. The CBI stated that this conviction marks the 19th in cases related to coal block allocations that it has investigated. The special court had earlier framed charges against JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd, Manoj Kumar Jayaswal, H.C. Gupta, K.S. Kropha, and K.C. Samaria.
