New Delhi: Jharkhand Ispat Private Limited (JIPL) and its two directors RC Rungta and RS Rungta were on Monday put on trial by a special court which framed charges against them for securing allotment of North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand allegedly on the basis of false and forged documents.
The court framed charges against the three accused for alleged offences punishable under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the IPC.
The court had on March 9 ordered that they be put on trial saying that prima facie charges of cheating, conspiracy and forgery was made out against the three accused.
"In terms of order dated March 9, 2015, charge for the offences under sections 120-B/420/467/468 and 471 IPC has been framed against all the accused i.e M/s JIPL, R C Rungta and R S Rungta and charge for the offences under sections 420/467/ 468/471 of the IPC has been framed against accused R C Rungta and charge for the offences under sections 420/468/471 of IPC has been framed against accused RS Rungta," Special Judge Bharat Parashar said.
After the court framed charges against them, the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. During the hearing, senior public prosecutor AP Singh moved a plea under section 294 of the CrPC (no formal proof of certain documents) saying that accused may be called upon to admit or deny various documents related to the case to curtail the necessity of examining all the prosecution witnesses.
The prosecutor said that the case was primarily based on documents and it would be in the interest of justice if trial would not be unnecessarily prolonged on the ground of proving some documents which have been admittedly signed by accused.
The court supplied the copy of application moved by CBI to the accused and posted the matter for hearing on April 1.
"Put up for reply and consideration on the application under section 294 CrPC on April 1," the judge said, adding, "Matter be now put up on April 1 for admission and denial of documents." The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand to JIPL.
The court, while ordering framing of charges against the three accused, had noted that it was prima facie clear that they "fraudulently and dishonestly" used forged documents to secure the coal block knowing fully well that the same were forged.
It, however, had said that no charge under section 477-A of the IPC (falsification of accounts), as alleged by the CBI in its charge sheet filed against the accused, was made out.
The court had also noted that it was clear that names of two fictitious persons were introduced as witness in execution of the agreement to sell so as to give it "a semblance of it being a genuine document."
"However, from the overall facts and circumstances of the case, as discussed above, it is clear that it is not a case where any of the accused is being primarily held vicariously liable but it is prima facie evident that all accused persons made a concerted effort by hatching a criminal conspiracy to cheat MOC (Ministry of Coal) so as to procure allotment of a coal block," the court had said.
The judge had said it was clear that accused submitted a highly inflated claim about their existing and proposed capacity of end use project and supported it with forged documents.
Besides Rungtas and JIPL, two private persons - Ramabatar Kedia and Naresh Mahto - were also summoned as accused in the case but they have died. CBI had submitted a verification report regarding their death after which the court had abated the proceedings against them.
In its charge sheet, CBI had alleged that it had found in the probe that JIPL had "grossly misrepresented" a number of aspects before Ministry of Steel (MoS) and Ministry of Coal (MoC) to inflate their claim, thereby inducing MoC officers and the screening committee to allocate the coal block to them.
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