A Special Court has sentenced former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda and ex coal Secretary H. C. Gupta to three years imprisonment on Saturday. The former CM is charged for the case of the coal block allocation scam. Apart from the jail sentence, the special court has imposed a hefty fine of Rs. 25 lakhs for Koda and Rs. 1 lakh for H. C. Gupta.
The Special Court awarded three years jail term to the close aides of Koda, former Jharkhand Chief Secretary A. K. Basu and Vijay Joshi. The Court has accused them of indulging in corrupt practices and criminal conspiracy. They are also accused of attempting allocation of the Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd., a private company in Kolkata.
Special judge Bharat Parashar heading the hearing convicted the private firm as well with a fine of Rs. 50 lakh. All who were convicted were granted statutory bail for two months. This was done to give Koda and the rest the opportunity to file appeals to challenge the verdict in the Delhi High Court.
The convicts were tried under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy,) 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants.)
