A special CBI court has acquitted former Coal Secretary HC Gupta and five others in a coal scam case related to allocation of two coal blocs in Odisha. Besides Gupta, there are two other public servants, former Joint Secretary in Coal Ministry K S Kropha, and K C Samaria, former Director in coal allocation section of the ministry, were also acquitted by the CBI court.
In addition to it, the accused company, Navabharat Power Pvt. Ltd., and its then Chairman P Trivikrama Prasad and then Managing Director Y Harish Chandra Prasad, were also cleared of conspiracy and criminal breach of trust charges.
The CBI had alleged that Navabharat Power Pvt. Ltd. And its officials Y Harish Chandra Prasad and P Trivikrama Prasad hatched a criminal conspiracy in 2006-08 with Gupta, Kropha and Samaria, and cheated Ministry of Coal by making a false claim over the land and company’s net worth in the application and secured the allocation of the coal block by inducing the ministry.
The court ruled that the CBI failed to prove any misrepresentation or cheating regarding the allocation of two Odisha coal blocks. The judge further said no case of cheating was made out as no one was induced.
