Four out of 30 cases of coal block allocation scam have been decided by a special court here, with the conviction of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda today.
12 persons and four companies have been held guilty so far with today's decision in four cases.
As per today's judgement, former coal secretary H C Gupta stands convicted in two out of 11 cases in which he is an accused.
Koda and Gupta are among four persons convicted in a case pertaining to irregularities in allocating Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL), which was also held guilty.
Koda is also an accused along with Gupta and Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, in another case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand.
Gupta, who was the coal secretary from December 31, 2005 to November 2008, was earlier awarded two year jail term, along with then joint secretary K S Kropha and then director K C Samaria in the Ministry of Coal, for cheating, criminal conspiracy and corruption in a case relating to irregularities in the allocation of Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block in Madhya Pradesh to Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL).
Gupta is currently on bail.
The first conviction in the coal scam cases came on March 28, 2016 in a case pertaining to irregularities in allotment of a coal block in Jharkhand to a firm Jharkhand Ispat Pvt Ltd (JIPL) whose two directors R S Rungta and R C Rungta were awarded four year jail term.
The second conviction followed four months later on July 26 in which Rathi Steel and Power Ltd (RSPL) and three of its officials -- Managing Director Pradeep Rathi, Chief Executive Officer Udit Rathi and AGM Kushal Aggarwal -- were held guilty by the court for "deceiving" the government by making false representation even before then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The third conviction took place on May 19 this year in the case involving KSSPL, in which the firm and its managing director Pawan Kumar Ahluwalia were also held guilty along with Gupta.
Today's decision by Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar, who was appointed exclusively to deal with the coal scam cases, was the fourth. The arguments on quantum of punishment in this case will be held tomorrow.
Those convicted in the four cases so far are Koda, Gupta, Basu, Joshi, Kropha, Samaria, Ahluwalia, Pradeep Rathi, Udit Rathi, Kushal Aggarwal, R S Rungta, R C Rungta and four companies -- KSSPL, RSPL, JIPL and VISUL.
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