Coal scam: former Union Minister Dilip Ray granted bail after 3-year sentence

New Delhi, Oct 26 (LocalWire): A Special CBI Court on Monday granted bail to former Union Minister Dilip Ray and others, after awarding them a sentence of 3 years in a coal scam case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the allocation of a Jharkhand coal block in 1999.

Special Judge Bharat Prashar granted bail to all the convicts on a personal bail bond of Rs. 1 lakh each, after they apprised the court that they are going to appeal against the judgement.

The same CBI court early on Monday had awarded 3 year imprisonment to Dilip Ray and three other individuals.

Besides Ray, two senior officials of the Ministry of Coal at that time, Pradip Kumar Banerjee and Nitya Nand Gautam and the Director of Castron Technologies Ltd (CTL) Mahendra Kumar Agarwal were awarded the sentence.

A fine of Rs. 10 lakhs was imposed on Ray, Rs. 2 lakhs each on Banerjee and Gautam, while Agarwalla was asked to pay a fine of Rs. 60 lakhs. The court further imposed a fine of Rs. 60 lakhs on CLT and Rs. 10 lakhs on Castron Mining Ltd (CML), also held guilty in the case.

The court while pronounced judgement also observed, “the criminal behaviour of such “white-collar criminals” which may include businessman, industrialists, entrepreneurs, traders, politicians, bureaucrats or well-qualified professionals can not be simply explained on the basis of various theories developed to explain the causation of traditional crimes such as poverty or lack of infrastructural facilities or recreational facilities or feeble-mindedness or emotional instability.

On the other hand, such persons are not only capable but are also emotionally balanced and in no sense pathologically unsound.

The only reason which may, however, explain such behaviour of “white-collar criminals” is their greed or lust to acquire maximum material resources in the name of their business, taking benefit of open competition, economy and individual freedom. In fact, white-collar crimes are a peculiar feature of an acquisitive and affluent society and even though our society can not be strictly termed as an affluent society, but it is certainly becoming acquisitive.

Ray was a former Minister of State for the Ministry of Coal during the then NDA government.

The CBI, in its charge sheet, had booked the accused under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The case pertains to the allocation of the Brahmadiha coal block in Giridih of Jharkhand to CTL in 1999.

LocalWire