3-yr jail for former Secy in coal scam

New Delhi, August 8

A Delhi court on Monday awarded a three-year jail term to former Coal Secretary HC Gupta in a case related to irregularities in allocation of a coal block in Maharashtra.

Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj also awarded two-year imprisonment to KS Kropha, former Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Coal, and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000, while Gupta was asked to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh, a lawyer associated with the case said. The court had convicted both for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating and corruption in the case related to allocation of the Lohara east coal block.

The court, meanwhile, awarded four-year jail term to Mukesh Gupta, director of Grace Industries Ltd that has also been convicted for criminal conspiracy and cheating.

The trial of the case was conducted by senior advocate RS Cheema, Deputy Legal Adviser for the CBI Sanjay Kumar and senior public prosecutor AP Singh.

Gupta had earlier been convicted in three other coal scam cases and his appeal against those convictions is pending before the Delhi High Court. He is currently on bail along with other convicts in the case.