Delhi court to decide quantum of sentence on August 19
A special court in Delhi on Friday convicted a former official of the Ministry of Steel in a case related to irregularities in allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh. This is the 14th conviction in the case.
Gautam Kumar Basak, former executive secretary of a Joint Plant Committee of the Ministry, was convicted under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj fixed August 19 for deciding quantum of the sentence.
The CBI in its chargesheet had stated that Prakash Industries Ltd (PIL) had falsely claimed it had four iron sponge kilns with a capacity of 7.2 lakh tonnes per annum (LPTA) to get allotment of the Vijay Central coal block.
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The agency said that following this claim, the screening committee recommended joint allocation of Vijay Central coal block in favour of Prakash Industries Ltd and SKS Ispat Ltd & Ors.
The court further noted evidence to show that Basak had said that during inspection, there were 4 kilns and the annual capacity was 7.2 LPTA. The court relied on the statement of PV Narsinga Rao, member secretary of Environ-ment Conservation Board, who it noted was in a senior position.
Following complaints and allegations levelled against Prakash Industries’ capacity, the Ministry of Steel directed Basak to conduct a verification of its plant.
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Basak had submitted that the report he presented was not on the basis of actual physical verification of the kilns or the actual installed capacity of the plant. He claimed that he was misled by false documents shown by the company.
On determining whether Basak was involved in corruption, the court noted that the report made by Basak was “false and favourable” to Prakash Industries.
The court acquitted co-accused Soumen Chatterjee of the charges under sections of the POCA Act. Further, both Basak and Chatterjee were acquitted of the charges of criminal conspiracy.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
First published on: 19-08-2023 at 03:33 IST
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