Court grants bail to Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, others

A court here granted bail on Friday to Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, coal ex-secretary H.C. Gupta and others in a coal block allocation case.

Special Judge Bharat Parashar granted bail to Darda, his son Devendra Darda, Gupta, coal ministry officials K.S. Kropha and K.C. Samria and JLD Yavatmal Energy Ltd. director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal on furnishing personal bonds of Rs.1 lakh each and sureties of the like amount.

All the accused appeared in pursuance of summons issued against them by the court on July 31.

The court took cognisance of the case filed on charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had earlier filed a closure report but the court refused to accept it, and asked the CBI on November 20 last year to probe the matter further and file a progress report.

The agency has since filed the progress report.

The probe agency in its first information report said that JLD Yavatmal wrongfully concealed previous allocation of four coal blocks to its group companies in 1999-2005.

However, in its closure report, the CBI said that even if this information had been revealed, it would not have disqualified the company from getting the coal blocks.