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| Former Union Min Dilip Ray gets three-yr jail in coal scam case |
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New Delhi: Former Union Minister Dilip Ray gets three-yr jail in coal scam case In this matter, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has a registered a case pertaining to allocation of 105.153 hectares of an abandoned coal mining area in Jharkhand''s Giridih district in favour of Castron Technologies Limited by the 14th screening committee of the Union coal ministry in 1999. Ray was an hotelier and in 2002 elected to the Rajya Sabha (RS) as an Independent candidate with the support of some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers from Odisha and in 2004. After joining the BJP, he was elected as a legislator from Rourkela constituency in the Odisha assembly polls in 2014 but left the saffron party in November 2018 after the CBI charge sheeted him in 2016 in the Brahmadiha coal scam case.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Prashar convicted Ray on October, 06 for the offences under various sections including 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy) 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various sections of the Prevention of the Corruption (PC) Act, 1988. Counsel for CBI had sought life imprisonment for Ray and other convicts by submitting that white collar crimes are on the rise and maximum punishment would act as a deterrent. The court today, after hearing arguments on quantum of sentence, said that they had conspired together beyond shadows of all reasonable doubts to procure allocation of the Brahmadiha coal block in favour of Castron Technologies Limited.
The court further said that there was a concerted effort by way of criminal conspiracy to facilitate misappropriation of the important Nationalised natural resources of the country. Special CBI Judge Bharat Prashar after hearing submission on behalf of Prosecution and Defence Counsel passed an order to three imprisonment to Dilip Ray, two former officials of the Union Coal Ministry Pradip Kumar Banerjee and Nitya Nand Gautam - and also Mahendra Kumar Aggarwalla, Director Castron Technologies Limited. The court further imposed fine of Rs 10 Lakh each on all the convicts and fine of Rs 60 Lakh and Rs 10 Lakh was imposed on the corporate entities, Castron Technologies Ltd and Castron Mining Ltd, respectively.
The court immediately granted bail to Ray after he was sentenced to three years imprisonment with the conditions to furnishing a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh.
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