Bhubaneswar: Ex-BJD MP and former Union Minister Dilip Ray has been granted bail soon after a Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court in New Delhi sentenced him to three years imprisonment on Monday.
Ray was earlier sentenced in case pertaining to irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Jharkhand in 1999.
As per reports, Ray was granted bail on a surety of Rs 1 lakh. Apart from Ray, the two other officials convicted in the case have also been granted bail.
Ray, a hotelier now, was the Minister of State (MoS) for Coal in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA when his party Biju Janata Dal (BJD), led by Naveen Patnaik, was a partner in the alliance government in 1999.
Along with Ray, the Special CBI Court on October 6 had convicted 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 in the case for charges dealing with criminal conspiracy and other offences. The case pertains to allocation of Brahmadiha coal block in Giridih in Jharkhand to CTL in 1999.
The court held them guilty of the offences under 120-B (criminal conspiracy) 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Also Read: Coal Scam: Ex Union Minister Dilip Ray Awarded 3-Year Jail Term