Coal scam: Ex-Coal Secy HC Gupta, two others summoned as accused

Former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and two others were on Monday summoned as accused in a coal scam case by a special court, which noted that the bureaucrat had prima facie facilitated allocation of a Madhya Pradesh coal block to <g data-gr-id="25">Pushp</g> Steels and Mining Pvt Ltd resulting in loss to the government.

The court also summoned <g data-gr-id="21">Pushp</g> Steels and Mining Pvt Ltd (PSMPL) and its director Atul Jain as accused for August 3 for alleged offences under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said prima facie Gupta, who was also the Chairman of Screening Committee, by virtue of various “acts of omission and commission”, had facilitated the allocation of Brahmapuri coal block in Madhya Pradesh to PSMPL to the detriment of all other applicant companies.

“Clearly, HC Gupta in his capacity as Secretary (Coal) was heading the Screening Committee and was thus entrusted with dominion over various coal blocks to the extent that recommendation for allocation of various coal blocks to different applicant companies <g data-gr-id="26">was</g> to be made by the Committee headed by him and as constituted under his Ministry,” the court said.