NEW DELHI: A special court today awarded four year jail term to Jharkhand Ispat Private Limited (JIPL) directors R C Rungta and R S Rungta in a coal block allocation scam case.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar, who delivered the first judgement in coal scam, also imposed Rs five lakh fine on each of the convicts held guilty for deceiving and defrauding the government to bag a coal block in Jharkhand.
Besides Rungtas, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh on the company JIPL, also convicted in the case.
Rungtas and JIPL are the first ones to be convicted among the several coal scam cases going on in the court which had in its March 28 verdict observed that the convicts had “fraudulently” and with a dishonest intention “deceived” the government in allocating the North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand to the firm.
In its 132-page judgement, the court had held that the “intention to defraud on the part of accused persons is writ large on the face of record.”
Besides this, 19 other cases investigated by the CBI are pending before court, which was set up to exclusively deal with all coal scam matters. Two other cases probed by ED are also pending before the court.
The Rungtas, during arguments on quantum of sentence, had
sought a lighter punishment from the judge claiming that no genuine bidder was deprived of his rights due to their acts.
They had said that the principal offender was the company and not the individuals and added that a lenient view must be taken towards them keeping in mind their age.(Agencies)
Follow our WhatsApp channel