Former coal secretary HC Gupta, who was convicted in a coal scam case, was on Monday sentenced to two-year imprisonment by a special court. He was granted bail soon after. Two senior IAS officers, KS Kropha and KC Samaria, were also awarded two-year imprisonment by special judge Bharat Parasher. They were imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on private firm Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd’s managing director Pawan Kumar Ahluwalia, who was also convicted. Ahluwalia also faces up to three-year imprisonment.
Gupta and the two serving senior officials were earlier convicted by the court on May 19 for irregularities in the allocation of the Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block in Madhya Pradesh to a private firm.
The court held the company and its managing director Pawan Kumar Ahluwalia guilty of offences, including cheating.
However, chartered accountant Amit Goyal, also an accused in the case, was acquitted. The CBI lodged an FIR in the case in October 2012, but on March 27, 2014 it filed a closure report. The closure report was rejected by the court on October 13, 2014 after which Gupta was summoned.
The investigation agency had alleged that the firm had misrepresented its net worth and the existing capacity. It had also stated that the state government had not recommended the firm for the allocation of any coal block.
The court had on October 14 last year framed charges against them. It had observed that former prime minister Manmohan Singh was kept in the "dark" by Gupta, who had prima facie violated the law and the trust reposed in him on the issue of coal block allocation. Gupta was the Union coal secretary from December 31, 2005 to November 2008. KS Kropha was then joint secretary and Samaria was director in the coal ministry. Kropha is chief secretary of Meghalaya.
Gupta is an accused in 10 more cases in the coal scam, which are going on separately. The plea to hold joint trial of the cases has been rejected by the Supreme Court.
