Coal scam: Delhi court awards 4-yr jail to ex-MP Vijay Darda, son for cheating govt

A Delhi court on Wednesday sentenced ex-Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devender Darda, and businessman Manoj Kumar Jayaswal to four years imprisonment in a case related to irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh.

The said the convicts obtained the block by cheating the government and the loss to the nation was huge.

All three convicts were taken into custody immediately after the court order. Darda was a Congress leader and chairman of Lokmat media group.

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Special Judge Sanjay Bansal also awarded three-year jail terms to ex-coal secretary H C Gupta and two former senior public servants K S Kropha and K C Samria in the case.

The three convicts were, however, granted bail by the court to enable them to challenge their conviction and punishment before the high court.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the company, JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd, which was convicted in the case.

The court imposed a fine of Rs 15 lakh each on the Dardas and Jayaswal. The other three convicts were directed to pay a fine of Rs 20,000 each.

The court had on July 13 held the seven accused guilty under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC, and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the 13th conviction in the coal scam which rocked the erstwhile Manmohan Singh government for causing loss to the tune 1.86 lakh crore as per the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.