A special court today framed charges against ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, former coal secretary HC Gupta, and 7 others, pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of a coal block.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parasar also framed charges against ex-Jharkhand Chief Secretary A K Basu, two public servants - Bipin Bihari Singh and Basant Kumar Bhattacharya - Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL), its director Vaibhav Tulsyan, Koda's close aide Vijay Joshi and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan in the case. The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North (Eastern and Central) coal block in Jharkhand to VISUL.
The court had ordered to put the accused on trial for the alleged offence of Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Gupta also prima facie committed offence under section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the IPC, while VISUL, Vaibhav Tulsyan and Joshi prima facie committed offence of cheating under section 420 of the IPC, the court said.
The charges under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act were framed against 5 public servants ? Bhattacharya, Singh, Koda, Gupta and Basu.
The court had ordered to put these accused on trial on July 14 noting that various acts of commission and omission committed by the accused prima facie made it clear that they had conspired with an objective to accommodate VISUL in Rajhara North (Central and Eastern) coal block in Jharkhand.