Delhi court reserves order on coal case sentencing

A Delhi court on Monday reserved its order on deciding the quantum of sentence for former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta and five others who were held guilty in a coal block allocation case.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Bharat Parashar said the order on sentence will be delivered on December 5.

Gupta, former Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Coal K.S. Kropha and then Director (CA-I) in the Ministry K.C. Samria were convicted by the court.

The court had also convicted the firm, Vikash Metals and Power Limited (VMPL), its Managing Director Vikash Patni and its authorised signatory Anand Mallick.

The court has held that all the six convicts conspired together to allocate a captive coal block, Moira-Madhujore coal block in West Bengal, in favour of VMPL.

The CBI pleaded for awarding seven-year imprisonment to the convicts, while the convicts' counsel sought a lenient sentence.

It was sixth judgment by the Special CBI Court exclusively dealing with the coal block allocation cases. Over 20 other cases probed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate are still pending.

--IANS

akk/bns/nir