NEW DELHI, Dec 16 - Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and ex-coal secretary HC Gupta were today sentenced to three years imprisonment by a special court here in a case of coal block allocation scam.
Besides the jail term, the special court also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh on Koda and Rs one lakh on Gupta.
Former Jharkhand chief secretary AK Basu and Vijay Joshi, a close aide of the then chief minister, were also awarded jail term of three years for indulging in corrupt practices and hatching criminal conspiracy in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to a Kolkata-based private company, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL).
Special judge Bharat Parashar convicted the private firm and imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on it.
All the convicts were, however, granted statutory bail for a period of two months to enable them to file appeals in the Delhi High Court challenging the conviction and the jail term. � PTI
