The Special Court on Wednesday awarded three-year jail term to two directors and another senior official of Himachal EMTA Power Ltd. (HEPL) in a coal scam case of 2009.
Special Judge Sanjay Bansal also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on each of the three convicts - the company's Directors Ujjal Kumar Upadhaya and Bikash Mukherjee, and its CGM (Power) N C Chakraborty - for criminal conspiracy to cheat the government of India by misrepresenting facts to acquire a coal block in West Bengal. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 20 lakh on Himachal EMTA Power Ltd. The judge, however, suspended the punishment for a period of 45 days to enable the convicts to appeal their conviction before the Delhi High Court.
The court had convicted the accused persons, ruling the prosecution proved the information regarding the investment, land and water tie-up mentioned in the application for acquiring the coal block and feedback form were false.
The accused, the court held, had the knowledge about the false information being submitted in the documents. CBI chargesheeted the accused persons in connection with illegalities the allotment of 'Gourangdih ABC coal block'.