Chhattisgarh coal block scam: Delhi court to pronounce quantum of punishment on July 26

New Delhi, July 18 (IANS) A Delhi court has said that it will pronounce the quantum of punishment on July 26 in the case where it recently convicted seven persons, including former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda and former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta for their involvement in irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh.

After hearing arguments in the case, Special Judge Sanjay Bansal, who presided over the case, reserved the order.

On July 13, the court delivered the verdict convicting Gupta, Darda, his son Devender Darda, two senior public servants K.S. Kropha and K.C. Samria, JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd and its Director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal.

The accused have been held guilty under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court had acknowledged the arguments presented by senior public prosecutor A.P. Singh, stating that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has successfully proven its case beyond any reasonable doubt.

During the hearing on quantum of punishment, the probe agency has sought maximum punishment, claiming that Darda and his son had met then CBI Director Ranjit Sinha at his residence to scuttle the investigation. It was further claimed that a witness in the case stated that he was threatened by Jayaswal, who tried to influence him to not depose against him.

On November 20, 2014, the court had rejected the closure report submitted by the CBI in this case. The court had directed the probe agency to initiate a fresh investigation, citing that the former MP Darda, had "misrepresented" facts in letters addressed to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also held the Coal portfolio.

According to the court, Vijay Darda, who is the Chairperson of the Lokmat Group, resorted to such misrepresentations in order to obtain the Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh for JLD Yavatmal Energy. 

The court had ruled that the act of cheating was carried out by private entities as part of a conspiracy involving both private parties and public servants. JLD Yavatmal Energy was granted the Fatehpur (East) coal block by the 35th Screening Committee. Initially, the CBI alleged in its FIR that JLD Yavatmal had unlawfully concealed the previous allocation of four coal blocks to its group companies between 1999 and 2005. However, the agency later filed a closure report, stating that no undue benefit had been granted to JLD Yavatmal by the Coal Ministry during the coal block allocation.