"Not an iota of evidence, CBI miserably failed": Delhi court acquits all accused in 2012 Bander Coal block case

A Delhi court on Friday acquitted all five accused in one of the oldest coal scam cases. 

Special Judge (PC Act) Sunena Sharma of the Rouse Avenue Courts ruled that the CBI “failed miserably” to prove the allegations against former member of parliament (MP) Vijay Darda, his son Devendra Darda, former coal secretary HC Gupta, the company AMR Iron & Steel Private Limited and its Director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal in relation to the allocation of Bander coal block in Maharashtra. 

Judge Sharma said that there was not even an iota of evidence, direct or indirect, to establish a criminal conspiracy among the accused persons. 

“Accordingly, all accused are acquitted for the offence of criminal conspiracy under Section 120-B IPC and Section 120-B IPC r/w Section 420 IPC, Section 9 and Section 13(1) (d) PC Act, 1988,” the court ruled. 

The first information report in the case was lodged in 2012 and then chargesheet was filed in 2014.

According to the prosecution, AMR and its directors misrepresented key facts in their application to the Ministry of Coal. The company allegedly concealed prior coal block allocations to its group companies and inflated its financial strength by falsely claiming association with the Lokmat Group and IL&FS.

The CBI further alleged that misleading information was presented before the 36th Screening Committee, which was responsible for recommending coal block allocations. 

It was alleged that Dardas made representations to to influence the allocation process. On HC Gupta’s role, it was stated that he chose to overlook the non- furnishing of complete information by AMR. 

After considering the case, the Court ruled that there was an absolute lack of evidence to show any communication between AMR, the company which was allotted the coal block, and the public servants. 

“All the circumstances, through which the prosecution seeks to prove the charge of criminal conspiracy have remained unsubstantiated for lack of any cogent and credible evidence,” the Court added. 

Therefore, it acquitted all the accused. 

Advocate Mudit Jain argued the case for Manoj Kumar Jayaswal, Vijay Darda, Devendra Darda and AMR Iron & Steel. 

Advocate Rahul Tyagi represented HC Gupta. 

CBI was represented through AP Singh. 

[Read Judgment]