A Delhi court on Friday acquitted former coal secretary HC Gupta, ex-joint secretary (coal) KS Kropha and then director KC Samaria in a coal scam case related to irregularities in the allocation of Mahugarhi Coal Block in Jharkhand.
Today marks Gupta's second acquittal in coal block related cases whereas he has been convicted in five other cases and his appeals are currently pending in Delhi High Court.
The CBI has also challenged his acquittal in the first case.
There were total 19 cases filed by the CBI against Gupta, of which 12 are pending before trial courts.
Special Judge Sanjay Bansal while pronouncing the verdict on Friday convicted JAS Infrastructure Capital Ltd and its then director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal for cheating and criminal conspiracy in securing coal block's allocation.
The judge would hear arguments on sentencing on July 8.
A total of 29 corruption cases filed by the CBI are currently pending before two special courts set up to try cases arising out of coal scam whereas 27 cases have been disposed of so far.
On January 16, the Enforcement Directorate informed the top court that 45 complaints (ED's equivalent to a chargesheet), including supplementary ones, were pending under the PMLA.
The top court in 2014 quashed 214 coal blocks allocated by the Centre between 1993 and 2010 after taking note of two PILs and had ordered a trial by a special CBI Judge.
It later increased the number of the courts to two to try the scam-related cases.
The CBI was represented by special public prosecutor R S Cheema, additional legal advisor Sanjay Kumar and public prosecutors A P Singh and N P Srivastava in the case.
The CBI lodged the case on the reference of Central Vigilance Commission against officials of Ministry of Coal for alleged corruption in the matter of allocation of coal blocks to the private companies during period 2006-09.
It was alleged in the FIR that JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd and its Director Jayaswal had misrepresented/concealed facts in the application form in order to qualify and obtain wrongful gains/undue benefits in allocation of Mahuagarhi coal block.
The CBI spokesperson in a statement on Friday said, "This is the 19th conviction in coal block allocation cases investigated by CBI. Initially, the CBI had filed final report (closure) in the case on November 20, 2014." The special court had previously taken cognisance and framed charges against JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd, Manoj Kumar Jayaswal, H C Gupta, K S Kropha and K C Samaria.
"The allegations in the case were that the accused private persons, namely the promoters of JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt. Ltd, had made false and misleading claims regarding the financial net worth of the company," the CBI said.
They further misrepresented the appraisal and syndication of debt by financial institutions, with a view to securing the wrongful allocation of a coal block, the CBI spokesperson said.
The company, it was alleged, "deliberately concealed" material facts concerning the previous allocation of coal blocks to other group or associate companies in the application and feedback forms.
"The company had also dishonestly projected the net worth of unrelated third-party companies- Inertia Iron & Steel Industries Pvt. Ltd. and IL&FS- as its own, both in its application and during the presentation made before the Screening Committee for the allocation of Mahugarhi Coal Block," the statement said.
The CBI examined 18 prosecution witnesses in support of its case.
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