Former Union Minister Dilip Ray gets three years in jail for Jharkhand coal block scam

A Special CBI Court in New Delhi today sentenced former Union Minister of State (MoS) of Coal, Dilip Ray, to three years of imprisonment in connection with a two-decade-old Jharkhand coal block allocation scam.

On October 14, the court had found Ray guilty and had reserved the verdict on the quantum of punishment for pronouncement on October 26 (Monday).

Ray was Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Coal during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government in 1999 and this case pertains to allocation of 105.153 hectares of abandoned Brahmadiha coal block in Giridih in Jharkhand to Castron Technologies Ltd (CTL).

Besides Ray, two former senior officials of the Ministry of Coal — Pradip Kumar Banerjee, the then Additional Secretary and Nitya Nand Gautam, former advisor (Projects), Castron Technologies Limited, its director Mahendra Kumar Agarwalla and Castron Mining Limited have also been found guilty.

Ray, along with others, has been found guilty of offences under Sections 120-B and 120-B/409/420 of IPC and Sections 13 (1) (c) and 13 (1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.