Court summons ex-coal secretary in coal block case

A special court hearing coal block allocation case here on Wednesday issued summons to former coal secretary H. C. Gupta and five others, including two senior public servants.

Special Judge Bharat Parashar on Tuesday issued summons to Gupta as well as K.S.Kropha, who was then the joint secretary in the coal ministry and K.C.Samria, who was director (coal allocation-I section).

The court also summoned the company Navbharat Power Pvt Ltd (NPPL), now known as Brahmani Thermal Power Pvt Ltd (BTPPL) and its chairman P. Trivikrama Prasad and vice chairman Y. Harish Chandra Prasad.

All were asked to appear on August 19.

They were summoned for the alleged offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust by public servants and cheating and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court was hearing the coal block allocation case allegedly involving the NPPL and pertaining to irregularities in allocation of coal block in Rampia in Odisha to it.

A charge sheet was filed last year against NPPL and its officials for allegedly misrepresenting facts, including inflated net worth, to acquire coal blocks in Rampia and Dip Side of Rampia in Odisha.

The court on November 12 last year directed the probe agency to conduct further probe in the matter, observing the act of then senior officials of the coal ministry in overlooking alleged misrepresentation by the NPPL for acquiring the coal block, prima facie amounted to criminal misconduct.