Coal scam: HC seeks CBI reply on RSPL officials' plea

NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court today sought CBI's response on a plea by three officials of Rathi Steel and Power Ltd (RSPL) challenging trial court order sentencing them to varying jail terms in a coal block allocation scam case.

Justice Mukta Gupta admitted the appeals filed by RSPL's 34-year-old Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Udit Rathi, 60-year -old Managing Director (MD) Pradeep Rathi and 35-year-old AGM Kushal Aggarwal and fixed it for consideration on August 22.

On July 27, the trial court had awarded them varying jail terms of up to three years, observing that the country as a whole suffered loss due to their "unscrupulous acts".

The Rathis were handed down three-year imprisonment while Aggarwal was awarded a two-year jail term.

Special CBI Judge had also imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh each on the convicted firm RSPL and its CEO, Rs 25 lakh on the MD and Rs five lakh on the AGM in the case pertaining to irregularities in allocation of Kesla North coal block in Chhattisgarh to the company.

The conviction in RSPL case was the second one, while in the first matter, the court had in April awarded a four-year jail term to Jharkhand Ispat Private Limited directors R C Rungta and R S Rungta in a coal block allocation scam case.

The convicts were taken in custody after their conviction on July 26.

However they were granted bail on July 28 on a personal bond of Rs two lakh each and a surety of like amount as the court allowed their plea to suspend their sentence for one month to enable them file an appeal in the higher court against their conviction and jail term.

In its order the trial court had also said that "white collar crimes" are more dangerous to the society than ordinary crimes.