Coal block scam: CBI court convicts SKS Ispat & Power; director Deepak Gupta gets 3 years jail

New Delhi: A special CBI court has convicted SKS Ispat & Power Ltd, its director Deepak Gupta and other company officials in a coal block allocation case in Madhya Pradesh, marking the 20th conviction in cases linked to the coal block allocation scam, officials said on Tuesday.

In an order pronounced on Monday, the court sentenced Gupta to three years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹10 lakh. Authorised signatory Satya Narain Dwivedi was sentenced to two years in jail with a fine of ₹20,000, while another authorised signatory, Amrit Singh, was awarded one year’s imprisonment along with a fine of ₹10,000.

The court also imposed a fine of ₹50 lakh on SKS Ispat & Power Ltd.

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered the case on August 4, 2014, alleging that the company’s director and authorised signatories made false and misleading claims in application and feedback forms to secure the Rawanwara North coal block in Madhya Pradesh. The alleged misrepresentations related to the company’s financial net worth, production capacity, land holdings and environmental clearances.

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According to the CBI, a charge sheet was filed on August 31, 2016 against SKS Ispat Ltd (now SKS Ispat & Power Ltd), represented through its director Deepak Gupta, along with Satya Narain Dwivedi and Amrit Singh.

“After investigation, the CBI filed the charge sheet against the accused. Following trial, the court convicted and sentenced all the accused,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.