Coal Blocks Case: Delhi Court Convicts 5 Accused, MD Of Rungta Projects

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

The Rouse Avenue District Court on Tuesday has convicted 5 individuals, including R.S. Rungta, the former Managing Director of Rungta Projects Ltd., in a case involving false claims related to coal block allocations in Jharkhand.

The Central Bureau of Investigation initiated the case on April 22, 2015, concerning the allocation of the Hutar Sector-C and Hurilong coal blocks to Rungta Projects Ltd. by the Ministry of Coal’s 36th Screening Committee.

It was alleged that Rungta Projects Ltd. submitted an application on December 30, 2006, claiming to be an independent mining entity and stating that it had a back-to-back agreement with an End-Use Company for coal supply to its sponge iron plant in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.

The company reportedly made false statements in its feedback form regarding the end-use project’s capacity, land acquisition, and investment. Additionally, it failed to disclose prior coal block allocations made to its group company.

Investigations confirmed that Rungta Projects Ltd. had indeed misrepresented its project capacity, land acquisition, and investments key indicators of its readiness for the project while concealing its earlier coal block allocations.

The CBI filed a chargesheet on June 30, 2015, followed by a supplementary chargesheet on January 29, 2018. After the trial, the court found all five accused guilty and convicted them.