New Delhi [India], August 31 (ANI): A Special Court on Wednesday convicted a private firm namely Himachal EMTA Power Ltd (HEPL) and its three officials for criminal conspiracy to cheat the government of India by misrepresenting facts to acquire a coal block of West Bengal.

According to the CBI, this is the 12th conviction in coal scam cases secured by the Prosecution Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India order on September 1, 2014. The Court will hear the arguments on the point of sentence on September 5, 2022.

Special Judge Sanjay Bansal while passing the judgement said, the court found that prima facie there was evidence which suggested that the accused committed the offence under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of IPC.

It is held that the prosecution has proved the charges. All the accused i.e. the company M/s Himachal EMTA Power Ltd, its two directors Ujjal Kumar Upadhyay and Bikash Mukherjee and its CGM (Power) N.C. Chakraborty is hereby held guilty and convicted for the offence u/s 120-B IPC and 120-B r/w 420 IPC. All the accused are also held guilty and convicted for the substantive offence u/s 420 IPC, said the court.

According to the prosecution, it was alleged that HEPL had misrepresented the status of the land in question and the investment made by it in the project and had secured the allocation of the coal block based on such misrepresentations.

In its charge sheet, CBI has alleged that HEPL had grossly misrepresented its status of preparedness, not only in its application form but also in the feedback form submitted on June 22, 2007, and in the information supplied by Chakraborty to the West Bengal government. It was also alleged Upadhyay and Mukherjee had deliberately conspired with HEPL and submitted false information to the Ministry of Coal (MoC) to secure the allocation of the Gourangdih ABC coal block in West Bengal in its favour.

FIR was registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 7, 2014, alleging offences under Section 120-B read with Section 420 IPC against HEPL, its promoters/directors, members of the 35th Screening Committee and other unknown persons. It was alleged that the said persons have cheated the Government of India by securing the allocation of Gaurangdih ABC Coal Block in favour of HEPL.

On November 6, 2006, the Ministry of Coal issued an advertisement inviting applications from companies engaged in the generation of power, production of iron and steel and production of cement for allocation of coal blocks for captive coal mines.

In the aforesaid context, Himachal Pradesh Infrastructure Development Board invited "expression of interest" on behalf of the Government of Himachal Pradesh from experienced and well-established organizations for setting up a 2x250 MW capacity pithead Coal Base Thermal Power Plant in a joint venture with the Government of Himachal Pradesh. M/s Eastern Minerals and Trading Agency (hereafter "EMTA") submitted its expression of interest and, thereafter, Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (hereafter "HPPCL") entered into an MoU on January 4, 2007, for setting up of a pithead thermal power plant in a joint venture. Pursuant to the aforesaid MoU, HEPL was formed on 09.01.2007 as a joint venture company between EMTA and HPPCL (a Govt. of Himachal Pradesh Enterprise).

It is stated that, thereafter, HEPL submitted its application on January 10, 2007, for allocation of Gaurandih ABC Coal Block located in West Bengal for the proposed 500 MW captive power plant in Rani Ganj, West Bengal. (ANI)

Source: National