Delhi HC granted interim bail to ex-MP Vijay Darda, two others in coal fraud case
Ex-member of Parliament Vijay Darda and two more defendants in the coal fraud case were granted interim bail by the Delhi High Court. The counsel, who appeared for the CBI opposed the plea for suspension of the convicts’ jail term and said the agency will file a detailed reply.
DELHI:
In a case involving anomalies in the distribution of a coal block in Chhattisgarh, the Delhi High Court on Friday granted interim bail to former MP Vijay Darda, his son Devender Darda, and director of JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd.
After spending two days in jail following their conviction and four-year hard prison sentence in the case by a special court on Wednesday, the accused were receiving relief from the high court.
While hearing the trio’s appeal, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma noted that the appellants were never detained during the course of the trial and asked the CBI for its response to the plea.
The appellants are allowed temporary bail upon the presentation of a personal bond in the amount of Rs. 10 lakh, the high court said, “Taking into account that the appellants were never arrested during the trial and they never misused the liberty of bail.” The CBI’s attorney objected to the request for the sentence to be suspended and stated that the organisation would submit a thorough response.
On September 26, the case will be taken up again to hear arguments on appeals for sentence suspension. In the case, HC Gupta, a former secretary of the coal ministry, and two bureaucrats, KC Kropha and KC Samria, were also found guilty and given three-year prison terms.
On July 13, Special Judge Sanjay Bansal found everyone guilty. The court found them guilty of violating IPC Sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), as well as the pertinent provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Comments are closed.