Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 13: The Special Coal Court of Delhi convicted seven individuals on Thursday in a case involving anomalies in the distribution of a coal block in Chhattisgarh, including former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda and former Coal Secretary H C Gupta.
Special Judge Sanjay Bansal also found Devender Darda, two senior government employees, K. S. Kropha and K. C. Samria, M/s JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd., and its Director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal guilty in the coal scam’s 13th conviction.
The court held the accused guilty of criminal conspiracy (punishable under 120-B of IPC) and cheating (punishable under section 420 of IPC) and under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
On July 18, the judge will hear arguments on the quantum of punishment.
The senior public prosecutor’s arguments that the CBI was able to establish its case beyond a reasonable doubt were accepted by the court.
The CBI’s closure report in the case was rejected by the court on November 20, 2014, and it was ordered to look into the case further. The court said that the former MP had “misrepresented” the truth in letters to then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in charge of the coal portfolio at the time.
The court said that Vijay Darda, the Chairman of the Lokmat Group, acted in this way to ensure that JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd. received the Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh.
