Coalscam: HC extends interim bail granted to Rungta brothers

The Delhi High Court today extended the interim bail granted to two directors of Jharkhand Ispat Pvt Ltd (JIPL), R S Rungta and R C Rungta, who were convicted and sentenced to four years jail in a coal block allocation scam case.
Justice Vipin Sanghi extended the relief to the Rungta duo till its further order in the case.
The two were granted relief on May 13 on a personal bond of Rs 10 lakh each with two sureties of the like amount after Special Public Prosecutor R S Cheema, who appeared for CBI, said he was not opposing the grant of interim bail.

During the brief hearing, Cheema said that they have filed an application before the Supreme Court for day-to-day hearing in the matter, which has not yet been listed.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Rungta duo, told the court that the sentence awarded to his clients should be suspended.
He also urged the court to extend the term of interim bail given to the convicts, which will end on July 31.

The bench had earlier sought CBI's response on the appeals filed by the Rungta duo, who were sentenced on April 4 by the special court which had said that India was lagging behind in development due to such "unscrupulous businessmen".

The special court had also imposed a fine of Rs five lakh each on R S Rungta, 79, and R C Rungta, 60, who were convicted on March 28 for the offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy under IPC.
It had also slapped a fine of Rs 25 lakh on the company JIPL which was also held guilty along with the Rungta duo.
It was the first case in the coal scam which was decided by the special court, constituted exclusively to deal with all such cases.
The Rungta duo and JIPL were convicted by the court which had noted that they had "fraudulently" and with a dishonest intention "deceived" the government in the allocation of the North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand to the firm.

Besides this case, 18 other cases investigated by CBI in the coal scam are pending before the special court. Two other cases probed by ED are also pending before the court.