Delhi court discharges ex-MoS in coal block case

New Delhi : A Delhi Court on Tuesday discharged former MoS Coal Santosh Bagrodia and one more accursed in Bander coal block case.

Special judge Bharat Parashar while discharging ex-MoS Bagrodia and Section Officer L.S. Janoti said: “As no other role apart from the aforesaid proceedings has been assigned to the accused… I hereby discharge them for the offence of criminal misconduct.”

The two had been discharged of their alleged offences under section 13 (i) d of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.

The court, however, framed charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust against five other accused.

The five accused against whom charges were framed included ex-MP Vijay Darda, ex-coal secretary H.C. Gupta and AMR Ltd.

The case pertains to alleged corruption in the allocation of Bander coal block in Maharashtra to AMR Iron and Steel Company Ltd.