Coal scam: CBI judge puts former secretary, 5 others on trial

New Delhi: A special court on Wednesday framed charges against former Coal Secretary HC Gupta and five others in a coal scam case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of a coal block in Madhya Pradesh to an accused firm. Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar put the six on trial for alleged offences under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of IPC and under relevant provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. [caption id=“attachment_2465554” align=“alignleft” width=“300”]  Representational image. Image courtesy: ibnlive[/caption] Besides Gupta, the court framed charges against two senior public servants, KS Kropha and KC Samria, firm Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL), its managing director Pawan Kumar Ahluwalia and chartered accountant Amit Goyal. Kropha was the then Joint Secretary in Ministry of Coal, while Samria was the then Director (Coal Allocation-I) section in the ministry. The court has now fixed the matter for 28 October for admission/denial of documents by accused, filed in the case by CBI. The court had on 1 October ordered framing of charges against the accused, observing that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was kept in the “dark” by Gupta, who had prima facie violated the law and the trust imposed on him on the issue of coal block allocation. The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Thesgora-B Rudrapuri coal block in Madhya Pradesh to KSSPL. The court on 13 October, 2014 had summoned them as accused after refusing to accept the CBI’s closure report. The accused were earlier granted bail by the court. CBI had lodged an FIR against KSSPL, its officials and other unknown persons for allegedly misrepresenting facts, including inflated net worth, in order to acquire the coal block. PTI