The Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended the three-year jail term of former public servant K C Samria, who challenged his conviction and sentence by trial court for his involvement in a case related to irregularities in coal block allocation in Chhattisgarh.
Issuing notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Justice Tushar Rao Gedela also sought its response on Samria’s appeal.
The judge admitted the appeal and listed it for hearing next along with similar appeals of other convicts in the case.
“Keeping in view that the appellant was never arrested during the trial and keeping in mind that the co-accused public servants have already been granted bail by a co-ordinate bench of this court, I am of the opinion that the sentencing order of the trial court qua the appellant shall remain suspended till the pendency of the appeal,” the court said.
On August 16, the high court had sought the response of the probe agency on the appeals by former coal secretary H.C. Gupta and former IAS officer K S Kropha, who have also challenged their conviction and jail terms in the case.
Admitting their appeals, a bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma had issued notice and had said that both the appellants will remain out on bail till the matter stands disposed of.
The judge had said that the appeals will be listed in due course along with the appeals moved by the other convicts – former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devender Darda and JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd’s Director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal.
“Issue notice. The counsel for CBI accepts notice. The appeals are admitted and will come for hearing in due course,” the court had said.
When Gupta and Kropha were granted bail by the special judge, they were allowed to challenge their conviction before the high court.
On July 28, the high court granted interim bail to the Dardas and Jayaswal, who were handed four-year jail terms. The court enabled them to challenge their conviction before the high court.
Judge Sharma had issued notice on the pleas moved by the Dardas and Jayaswal against the trial court order convicting and sentencing them in the case.
The court had sought the CBI’s response and had directed to file it within eight weeks.
The Delhi court had awarded four-year jail terms to them while Gupta, Kropha and K.C. Samaria were handed a three-year jail sentence. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on M/s JLD Yavatmal.
A fine of Rs 15 lakhs each was also imposed by the special judge on the Dardas and Jayaswal. The other three convicts were directed to pay a fine of Rs 20,000 each.
On July 13, Special Judge Sanjay Bansal delivered the verdict convicting them.
The accused have been held guilty under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court had earlier acknowledged the arguments presented by senior public prosecutor A.P. Singh, stating that the CBI has successfully proven its case beyond any reasonable doubt.
During the hearing on the quantum of punishment, the probe agency had sought the maximum punishment, claiming that Darda and his son had met then CBI Director Ranjit Sinha at his residence to scuttle the investigation. It was further claimed that a witness in the case stated that he was threatened by Jayaswal, who tried to influence him not to depose against him.
On November 20, 2014, the court had rejected the closure report submitted by the CBI in this case. The court had directed the probe agency to initiate a fresh investigation, citing that the former MP Darda had “misrepresented” facts in letters addressed to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also held the Coal portfolio.
According to the court, Vijay Darda, who is the Chairperson of the Lokmat Group, resorted to such misrepresentations in order to obtain the Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh for JLD Yavatmal Energy.
The court had ruled that the act of cheating was carried out by private entities as part of a conspiracy involving both private parties and public servants.
JLD Yavatmal Energy was granted the Fatehpur (East) coal block by the 35th Screening Committee. Initially, the CBI alleged in its FIR that JLD Yavatmal had unlawfully concealed the previous allocation of four coal blocks to its group companies between 1999 and 2005. However, the agency later filed a closure report, stating that no undue benefit had been granted to JLD Yavatmal by the Coal Ministry during the coal block allocation.