A special court here today held Gondwana Ispat Ltd and its director guilty of cheating and criminal conspiracy to get the Majra coal block in Maharashtra allocated to it during the UPA rule.
The allocation of the coal block was quashed by the Supreme Court in 2014.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar, who was appointed exclusively to deal with the coal scam cases, directed that the firm's director Ashok Daga be taken into custody.
The court held the company and Daga guilty of hatching a criminal conspiracy and cheating under sections 120-B and 420 of the IPC.
The court will pronounce its order on the quantum of sentence on May 1.
It today heard the arguments of the CBI and the accused on the quantum of sentence. The agency sought maximum punishment for them, and the accused pleaded for leniency.
"In my opinion, the CBI has been clearly successful in proving the offence of criminal conspiracy i.e., u/s 120-B/420 IPC against A-1 M/s Gondwana Ispat Ltd (GIL) and A-2 Ashok Daga, and I accordingly hold them guilty for the said offence and accordingly convict them thereunder," the judge said.
The court said, "In 2003, both of you (accused), in furtherance of the common object of the criminal conspiracy hatched between you both... with a view to procure allocation of the Majra coal block in favour of GIL, made false submission before the 18th Screening Committee about financial tie up with financial institutions and tie up for supply of iron ore from Orissa and thereby both of you committed the offence of cheating punishable under Section 420 of the IPC."
Daga and the firm hatched a criminal conspiracy in 2003 for the allocation of the Majra coal block in favour of GIL, made false submission before the 20th Screening Committee about the procurement of land and the tie up for the supply of iron ore from Odisha, the court said.
"Between 2000 and 2011 at Maharashtra, Delhi and other places, both the accused hatched a criminal conspiracy to cheat the Ministry of Coal (MoC) and the Ministry of Steel (MoS) of the Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra.
"They procured allocation of the Majra coal block situated in Chanderpur district of Maharashtra in favour of the firm by making false submissions and by falsely showing Gondwana Ispat as a registered Limited company and by making false representation about financial preparedness and tie up of supply of iron ore from Orissa to gain undue financial gain and thereby both of you committed the offence of criminal conspiracy," the court said.
It said that on April 22, 2000, Daga submitted an application to the Ministry of Coal for the allocation of the coal block by "falsely showing Gondwana Ispat as a Ltd. company and signing as Director of GIL whereas on that date Gondwana Ispat was not a registered company and thereby, committed the offence of cheating.
"Secondly, during the year 2001, you Ashok Daga submitted another application dated September 25, 2001 to the MoC for allocation of the Warora West Coal block falsely showing Gondwana Ispat as a Ltd. company and signing as Director of GIL whereas on that date Gondwana Ispat was not a registered company and, thereby, you committed the offence of cheating punishable under section 420 of IPC," the court said.
It said that on September 25, 2001, Daga submitted an application to the MoS for seeking recommendation to the MoC for allocation of the Warora West coal block in favour of Gondwana Ispat "by falsely showing Gondwana Ispat as a Ltd. company and signing as Director of Gondwana Ispat Ltd. whereas on that date Gondwana Ispat was not a registered company".
On October 1, 2001, an application was submitted in the name of GIL to the Director, Geology and Mining, Government of Maharashtra for seeking its recommendation to the MoS for consideration of their case "by falsely mentioning that Western Coalfields Ltd. has given no objection for release of Warora Block in favour of Gondwana Ispat and falsely showing Gondwana Ispat as a Ltd. Company, whereas on that date Gondwana Ispat was not a registered company", the court added.
It also said that between 2005 to 2011, Daga, "despite an undertaking to the MoC, did not develop the coal mine and also did not set up the End Use Plant and sold his entire shareholding in Gondwana Ispat Ltd. and thereby obtained undue financial gain of Rs 1.55 crore over the nationalized natural resources of the country and thereby cheated Govt. of India and thus you Ashok Daga committed the offence of cheating".
The firm was allocated the Majra coal block in 2003 and an FIR was lodged against it in 2014.
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