An accused in a coal scam case was today warned by a special court for resorting to delaying tactics, saying he should be careful otherwise coercive steps will be taken in the future.
Chartered Accountant Manoj Kumar Gupta, who along with Ranchi-based M/s Domco Pvt Ltd, its directors and others is facing prosecution in a case of alleged misrepresentation of facts to acquire a coal block in Jharkhand, had purportedly conveyed wrong date of hearing to his counsel who was not present in the court for advancing arguments on charges.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar took exception to the absence of Gupta's counsel Rajiv Mohan whose junior advocate informed the court that the accused had told them arguments qua him are to be addressed on May 24 and not today.
"Counsel Rajiv Mohan is not present to argue on the point of charge. It has been submitted by counsel Abhimanyu Kampani that accused Gupta told them that arguments qua him are to be addressed on May 24.
"It appears to be a deliberate intention on the part of accused Gupta in delaying the matter. Accused Gupta has been strictly warned to remain careful in future failing which the court will be compelled to take coercive steps to ensure proper conduct of trial in future," the court said and fixed the case for tomorrow for hearing arguments on charges.
Besides Gupta and the company, the other accused in the case are the firm's three directors -- Binay Prakash, Vasant Diwakar Manjrekar and Parmananda Mondal -- chartered accountant Sanjay Khandelwal and one Shukdeo Prasad.
The accused persons were granted bail on February 10 by the court after they appeared before it.
In its charge sheet, CBI has claimed that Domco Pvt Ltd, which was earlier known M/s Domco Smokeless Fuels Pvt Ltd, had applied to the Steel Ministry for allotment of a captive coal block to set up a pig iron plant of two lakh tonnes per annum capacity at Rairangpur in Odisha through its director Prakash.
