Coal scam case: CBI court acquits former bureaucrats Gupta, Kropha, Samaria

A CBI special court acquitted three ex-bureaucrats in the Mahugarhi, Jharkhand coal block case while convicting JAS Infrastructure and its then director Manoj Jayaswal for cheating and conspiracy

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Friday acquitted former coal secretary HC Gupta, former joint secretary (coal) KS Kropha, and former coal allocation director KC Samaria in the high-profile 2012 coal scam case.

 

Special Judge Sanjay Bansal convicted JAS Infrastructure Capital Ltd and its then director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal for cheating and criminal conspiracy in connection with the allocation of the Mahugarhi coal block in Jharkhand. Sentencing arguments are scheduled for 8 July 2025.

 

CBI recounts progress and previous findings 

“This is the 19th conviction in coal block allocation cases investigated by CBI,” a CBI spokesperson said. The agency initially filed its closure report in the matter on 20 November 2014.

 

 

Previously, the court had framed charges against JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd, Manoj Kumar Jayaswal, HC Gupta, KS Kropha, and KC Samaria.

 

The CBI said that the promoters of JAS Infrastructure had made “false and misleading claims” about the company’s financial net worth, which formed the basis of the allocation. During the trial, 18 prosecution witnesses were examined. This case marks the 19th conviction out of the 54 coal block allocation cases probed by the CBI. Only half of these cases have been disposed of so far.

 

Previous coal block cases involving the acquitted officials 

In 2017, Gupta, Kropha, and Samaria were convicted by another special CBI court for irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh to Kamal Sponge Steel & Power Ltd (KSSPL). They were granted bail on the same day.

 

In April this year, Judge Bansal discharged Gupta and Kropha in a separate coal block allocation case related to Mednirai, also in Jharkhand, citing lack of evidence.

 

Backdrop: The 2012 coal scam and political fallout 

The coal scam, also known as the Coalgate scandal, erupted in 2012 after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) reported that the government had allocated coal blocks to private companies without transparent auctions. The report estimated a ‘notional loss’ of ₹1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer.

 

The scandal triggered widespread political uproar and was a major factor in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's defeat in the 2014 general elections, which brought the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to power.