1st Coalgate sentence: Rungtas given 4 years

NEW DELHI: In the first conviction and sentence in the multi-crore coal blocks allocation scam, a special court on Monday sent Jharkhand Ispat Pvt Ltd (JIPL) directors R C Rungta and R S Rungta to jail for four years, lamenting that the country was still not industrially developed due to such “unscrupulous businessmen”.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on R S Rungta (79) and R C Rungta (60), who were convicted of cheating and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.It imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh on JIPL, which was held guilty along with Rungtas on March 28. Other 21 cases are at different stages of trial.
Special Judge Bharat Parashar said, “It is on account of such kind of unscrupulous businessmen and industrialists that despite 69 years of independence, our country is still lagging behind than most of the countries in industrial development.”
Rungtas and JIPL were convicted by the court, which had noted that they had “fraudulently” and with a dishonest intention “deceived” government in allocating the North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand to the firm. The two other accused—Ramabatar Kedia and Naresh Mahto—who faced proceedings died during the pendency of the case. The coal scam refers to alleged irregularities in the allocation of 194 coal blocks to private entities, which the CAG estimated, resulted in a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer.
Sentencing the convicts, the court said “white collar crimes” were more dangerous to society than ordinary crimes due to much higher financial losses and damages inflicted on public morale. “White collar criminals have come to be defined as a person of the upper socio-economic class who violates the criminal law in the course of his occupational or professional activities,” the court said.