HC grants interim bail to businessman convicted in coal block case

The Delhi High Court on Friday granted interim bail to a director of Gondwana Ispat Ltd (GIL) convicted in a coal block allocation case.

Justice S.P. Garg granted the interim relief to Ashok Daga till July 23 while asking him to pay Rs 1 crore as fine amount imposed on him by the trial court.

On May 1, a special court sentenced Daga to four years in jail in the coal block allocation case and also slapped a fine of Rs 1 crore on him and Rs 60 lakh on the firm.

The court was hearing a case related to alleged irregularities in allocation of Maharashtra’s Majra coal block. The block was allocated to the accused company in 2003.

Daga has been in custody since April 27, after the court had held that the firm and its Director were guilty of cheating and criminal conspiracy to get the coal block.

In its charge sheet, the Central Bureau of Investigation said Daga had made “unsubstantiated claims even towards financial preparedness and tie-up regarding iron ore with the Odisha government”.

It has alleged that as the Ministry of Coal then was not following any system of checking the falsity of the information provided by an applicant company, the GIL and Daga in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy misrepresented before various authorities and induced them to reserve or allocate Majra coal block in their favour.

The CBI has claimed that during the probe, it was found that although after allocation of the coal block in 2003, Daga had filed an undertaking with the Ministry that he would install a plant or carry out its extension and develop the coal mine, but sold off the company to Nand Kishore Sarda, thereby making huge profits in October 2005. (IANS)