New Delhi: Jharkhand Ispat Pvt Ltd (JIPL) along with its directors R S Rungta and R C Rungta were convicted by a Special court in a coal block allocation scam case on Monday, March 28.

The court ordered that R S Rungta and R C Rungta be taken into custody after convicting them for offences of conspiracy and cheating under IPC. The duo was convicted for acquiring the coal block in Jharkhand on the basis of false documents.

It has fixed March 31 for hearing arguments on quantum of sentence in the case.

The court had on March 21 last year framed charges against them for the 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 IPC.

The accused had pleaded not guilty and refuted the allegations against them made by CBI.

CBI in its chargesheet had alleged that in its probe, that in order to allocate the coal block to them, JIPL had “grossly misrepresented” many aspects before the Ministry of Steel (MoS) and the Ministry of Coal (MoC) and also induced a number of officials from the MoC and the screening committee.

It has alleged that JIPL along with three other firms, Electro Steel Casting Ltd, Adhunik Alloys and Power Ltd and Pawanjay Steel and Power Ltd, was jointly allocated North Dhadu coal block by 27th and 30th screening committee. The CBI also mentioned that no efforts were made to verify the claims made by the applicant firms.

This is the first case in coal block allocation scam, where the special court has pronounced the verdict.