Ex-CS, 3 others discharged in Coal scam case

NEW DELHI: A special court here has discharged RKM Powergen Pvt. Ltd, former Coal Secretary HC Gupta and three others in the Fatehpur East coal block allocation case in which they were chargesheeted by the CBI, saying there was no evidence to prosecute them.

The two promoters of the company, Andal Arumugam and T M Singaravel, and former Joint Secretary Kuljeet Singh Kropha have also been discharged by Special Judge Dheeraj Mor after hearing arguments from both sides.

Nearly three years after filing the FIR in 2014, the CBI submitted its closure report on September 21, 2017, claiming that allegations in the FIR under Indian Penal Code section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 420 (cheating), besides provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, were not substantiated.

Not satisfied with the findings, the special court directed the agency to conduct a further probe. Six years later, the CBI submitted a charge sheet against five accused in 2023 under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In its charge sheet, the CBI had alleged that RKM Powergen and its directors misrepresented their project preparedness, submitted forged documents and cheated the government to secure the coal block. Judge Mor did not find evidence to substantiate CBI's allegation while hearing detailed arguments from both sides with the company being represented by senior advocate Abhimanyu Bhandari.