A special court on Wednesday convicted former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, among others, on corruption charges in a coal block allocation case.
Special Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, former Union Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, Jharkhand’s then Chief Secretary A.K. Basu, among others, guilty of criminal conspiracy and cheating under various provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. The quantum of punishment will be announced tomorrow (Thursday).
The court’s order came in the case related to Jharkhand’s Rajhara North coal block allocation to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (Visul). The CBI had alleged that Koda, Gupta and others conspired to favour Visul in allocating the coal block.
The court, however, acquitted four persons—Visul’s Director Vaibhav Tulsyan and two public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan—of all charges.
The coal scam had hit the headlines in 2012 after an audit by the CAG revealed that the country lost up to Rs 1.86 lakh crore due to inefficient allocation of coal blocks.