Coal scam: High Court stays sentence, Rs 25L fine on Madhu Koda

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed a three-year imprisonment to former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda awarded by a CBI special court in a coal scam case till January 22.

Justice Anu Malhotra also stayed the order imposing a fine of Rs 25 lakh on Koda, and granted him an interim bail till the next date of hearing this month with a direction not to leave the country. The high court has also sought a response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on his appeal challenging the conviction and sentence.

Koda approached the high court seeking suspension of the sentence and regular bail. The special court had last month convicted Koda, excoal secretary HC Gupta and two others in a coal block allocation pertaining to irregularities in allocation of the Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Vini Iron & Steel Udyog Ltd. The court pronounced them guilty of criminal conspiracy and cheating pertaining to irregularities in allocation of the block.


Special Judge Bharat Parashar also pronounced a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Koda and Rs 1 lakh on Gupta. A fine of Rs 50 lakh was imposed on the errant company, Kolkata-based Vini Iron & Steel Udyog Ltd. Along with the rigorous imprisonment, a fine of Rs 45 lakh has been imposed on Koda's close aide Vijay Joshi and Rs 1,00,000 on ex-Jharkhand chief secretary AK Basu.

Koda's plea challenging the special court's orders of conviction and sentence, respectively, was admitted by the high court. Koda was granted bail by a trial court till January 18.