Ex-coal secretary HC Gupta and others held guilty of corruption and criminal conspiracy. (File Photo/PTI)
Former bureaucrat HC Gupta and others were held guilty of corruption and criminal conspiracy in a coal scam case by a Delhi court on Friday. The case relates to coal block allocation in West Bengal. The court will announce quantum of punishment on December 3. The convicts may get a maximum seven-year jail term.
Besides former coal secretary Gupta, special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar also convicted private firm Vikash Metals and Power Limited, one serving and one retired public servant — ex-joint secretary in Ministry of Coal (MoC) KS Kropha and the then director (CA-I) in MoC, KC Samria — in the case.
The court also convicted the firm’s managing director Vikash Patni and its authorised signatory Anand Mallick in the case.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Moira and Madhujore (North and South) coal blocks in West Bengal to VMPL. In September 2012, the CBI had registered an FIR in the case.
All the five convicted persons were taken into custody by the court immediately after the verdict.
(With inputs from PTI)
