Coal Scam: Delhi Court convicts former coal secretary H C Gupta, others

A Delhi Court convicted former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and former MoC joint-secretary K S Kropha of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and corruption in a coal scam case involving irregularities in the allocation of the Lohara East coal block in Maharashtra on Friday. 

Grace Industries Ltd. (GIL) and its Director Mukesh Gupta were also convicted of criminal conspiracy and cheating, and the matter was adjourned until August 4, when the court will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence to be awarded to four convicts.

Gupta was previously convicted in three other coal-related cases, and his appeal against those convictions is currently pending in the Delhi High Court. He is currently released on bail.

According to the CBI, between 2005 and 2011, the accused perpetrated a criminal conspiracy and defrauded the MoC and the Government of India by dishonestly and fraudulently inducing the MoC to allocate the 'Lohara East Coal Block' to GIL based on false information about net worth, capacity, equipment, and the status of plant procurement and installation.

The CBI also stated that the company claimed in its application to have a net worth of Rs 120 crore when it actually had a net worth of Rs 3.3 crore and that it also falsified its existing capacity as 1,20,000 TPA rather than 30,000 TPA.

On August 25, 2014, the Supreme Court cancelled all coal block allocations.

Today's order marked the prosecution's 11th conviction in the coal scam cases.

The trial was presided over by senior advocate R S Cheema, CBI Deputy Legal Advisor Sanjay Kumar, and senior public prosecutor A P Singh.

(With inputs from PTI)

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