Coal scam: Court grants bail to Vijay Darda, 5 others

Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda and five others, including his son Devendra Darda and former Coal Secretary H C Gupta, were today granted bail by a Special Court in a coal scam case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh.

The other accused granted bail by Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar were two senior public servants -- K S Kropha and K C Samria -- and businessman Manoj Kumar Jayaswal.

The relief was given on a personal bond of Rs one lakh each with one surety of the like amount.

The accused had appeared before the court in pursuance to the summons issued against them in the case in which Fatehpur (East) coal block was allocated to accused firm M/s JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd.

CBI told the court that it will supply copies of the documents to all the accused today after which the court fixed the matter for September 10.

The court had issued summons against the accused for the alleged offences under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 420 (cheating) of IPC and under relevant provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

It had on November 20, last year had refused to accept CBI's closure report filed in the case and had directed the agency to conduct further probe the matter while saying that the Rajya Sabha MP had "misrepresented" facts in letters written to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was holding the Coal Ministry portfolio.

The court had said that Darda, who was the Chairman of Lokmat Group, did so to get allotment of Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh in favour of JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd.