CBI court finds ex-Union min Ray guilty in ’99 coal scam case

BHUBANESWAR: A CBI court in Delhi on Tuesday convicted Dilip Ray, the then Union minister of state for coal in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, for irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Jharkhand in 1999.
This is the first conviction of a (former) Union minister for irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks.
Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar convicted the 64-year-old Ray under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC and under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court also convicted Pradip Kumar Banerjee (then additional secretary in the coal ministry), Nitya Nand Gautam (then adviser-projects in the ministry), Castron Technologies Ltd (CTL)s director Mahendra Kumar Agarwalla and two firms — CTL and Castron Mining.
Ray did not respond to a phone call from TOI for his reaction to the conviction. The court has set October 14 as the date to announce the quantum of punishment.
The case against Ray pertains to the allotment of Brahmadiha coal block to CTL in September 1999. The CBI, in its charge-sheet, said Ray and a screening committee went ahead with the allocation in spite of objections by Coal India Limited (CIL) and Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL), a CIL subsidiary.
The coal ministry officials had decided against the allotment following the CMPDIL’s observation that mining of the abandoned block would pose a threat to other coal mines of the Central Coal Fields. However, after the file went to Ray’s office on April 23, 1999, the CTL made a representation to him for speedy consideration of their application on May 12, 1999. A day later, on May 13, Ray sent the file to the officials for re-examination. The officials changed their decision and approved the file. Ray gave his final approval and the government allotted the block to CTL on September 1, 1999.

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