NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday acquitted former coal secretary H C Gupta, ex-joint secretary K S Kropha, and former director K C Samaria in a case linked to alleged irregularities in the allocation of the Mahugarhi coal block in Jharkhand. The case dates back to the coal allocation scam that shook the country a decade ago.
For Gupta, this marks a second acquittal in coal block-related cases, though he has been convicted in five others. His appeals in those matters are pending before the Delhi High Court. The CBI, which has filed 19 cases against him, is also contesting his first acquittal. Twelve of those cases remain pending before trial courts.
While the three former officials were cleared on Friday, Special Judge Sanjay Bansal convicted JAS Infrastructure Capital Ltd and its then director, Manoj Kumar Jayaswal, on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy in relation to the same coal block.
At present, 29 coal scam-related cases filed by the CBI remain pending before two special courts, while 27 have already been disposed of.
Parallelly, the ED earlier this year had informed the Supreme Court that 45 complaints, equivalent to chargesheets under the PMLA, remain pending in connected proceedings.