Coal scam: Delhi court sentences former MP Vijay Darda to 4 years imprisonment

Delhi's Special Court on Wednesday sentenced former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda to four years imprisonment in a case related to irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh. The court also announced three years imprisonment for ex-Coal Secretary H C Gupta, two senior public servants KS Kropha and KC Samria in the said case.

Former MP's son Devender Darda, JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd's Director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal were also sentenced to four years imprisonment for the coal scam which shook the then Manmohan Singh led government.

Special Judge Sanjay Bansal on July 13 held all of them guilty. The Court convicted them under offences under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and under the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.


However, the Court acquitted the accused under 409 IPC (Criminal Breach of Trust by Public Servants).

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the court that JLD Yavatmal Energy Limited got Fatehpur East Coal Block in Chhattisgarh as part of the alleged criminal conspiracy by misrepresentation facts on the eligibility conditions.

According to the CBI, this is the thirteenth conviction in the Coal Scam related case.

The prosecution was led by Senior Advocate RS Cheema along with A P Singh, Deputy legal advisor, and others.

The coal related cases have been registered by CBI in connection with the allegations related to getting coal blocks allocated on the basis of misrepresentations and false claims in the applications, presentations and connivance or lack of due diligence on the part of public servants

This major scandal appeared in 2012 after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) panned the government for inefficient allocation of 194 coal blocks to public sector enterprises and private companies between 2004 and 2009 for captive use in a non-transparent way.

It said instead of allocating the valuable natural resource, the government should have gone for competitive bidding.

Many politicians were claimed to have lobbied for private entities and helped them secure these blocks. Several entities got more blocks for mining than they needed and sold the excess coal in the open market resulting in huge windfall.

The CAG initially estimated a massive loss of Rs 10.6 lakh crore to the exchequer, but its final report tabled in Parliament put the figure at 1.86 lakh crore.

(With inputs from Agencies)