First conviction in Coal Scam: 4-year jail for Rungtas of Jharkhand Ispat

Court also imposes Rs 5 lakh fine on each of the convicts, Rs 25 lakh on the firm, JIPL

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In the first judgment in the coal block allocation scam case, a special court has awarded four-year jail term to R C Rungta and R S Rungta, chairman and director, respectively, in Jharkhand Ispat Private Ltd (JIPL).

The court also imposed Rs 5 lakh fine on each of the convicts held guilty for deceiving and defrauding the government to bag a coal block in Jharkhand. Besides, a fine of Rs 25 lakh was imposed on JIPL, also convicted in the case.

This is the first coal block allocation scam case in which the special court, set up to exclusively deal with coal scams, has delivered its judgment. After a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in 2012 alleged Rs 1.86 lakh crore windfall gain to companies, the CBI had started probe against allotment of coal

JIPL and the Rungtas were earlier put on trial by the court, which had framed charges against them for securing allotment of North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand allegedly on the basis of false and forged documents.

In its chargesheet, the CBI said JIPL "grossly misrepresented" a number of aspects before the steel and coal ministries to inflate their claim, thereby inducing coal ministry officials and the screening committee to allocate the coal block to them.

In its 132-page judgement, the court had held that the "intention to defraud on the part of accused persons is writ large on the face of record."

JIPL runs a steel plant at Ramgarh in Jharkhand. R S Rungta had last year moved an application before a special court seeking to summon former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao as witnesses in his defence in the case. Singh was also the Cabinet minister for coal at the time of allocation of mine. The court, however, rejected the plea.

The court acquitted both R S Rungta and R C Rungta for the alleged offences under IPC sections 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) saying they were not proved against them.

WHO ARE THE RUNGTA BROTHERS?

R C Rungta is the chairman of the R C Rungta Group. JIPL is one of the six fully owned companies under the Rungta Group. The websites of these two companies mention R C Rungta as the promoter “who hails from the reputed business family having business network across the country and having Interest in mining, highway and civil project, steel industry, cement industry, manufacturing of irrigation system, leasing and finance, transportation and education etc.” The website also mentions him as an eminent industrialist of Jharkhand, with business experience of more than 20 years. There is no mention of his brother R S Rungta on any of the websites even though the court submissions mention him as one of directors in JIPL.