Coal scam: High Court grants bail to ex Coal Secretary

New Delhi: A court here on Tuesday granted bail to former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta and others in a case related to alleged irregularities in allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh to SKS Ispat and Power Limited (SIPL).

Special Judge Bharat Parashar granted bail to Gupta, senior government servant K.S. Kropha, SIPL Directors Anil Gupta and Deepak Gupta, and three others -- Amit Singh, Rakesh Singh and Jagan Nath Panda.

The court directed them to furnish a personal bond of Rs one lakh each and a surety of like amount each and listed the matter for March 23 for further hearing.

The accused appeared before the court in pursuance of summons issued against them.

The court was hearing a case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Chhattisgarh`s Fatehpur Coal Block to SIPL.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has chargesheeted them alleging that they have hatched a criminal conspiracy to cheat the screening committee and misrepresented various facts to obtain coal block.

SIPL had won the contract of Fatehpur coal block in 2008.

A first information report in the matter was lodged in 2014