The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea from former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, who sought a stay on his 2017 coal scam conviction in hopes of contesting the upcoming state assembly elections. The decision was delivered by a bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar, who upheld the October 18 ruling of the Delhi High Court that also refused to stay his conviction.
Madhu Koda, who was sentenced on December 13, 2017, along with three other officials including former coal secretary H C Gupta and former Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu, had hoped to clear the way to participate in the forthcoming elections. The assembly polls for the 81-member Jharkhand assembly are scheduled in two phases, on November 13 and November 20, with the vote count set for November 23.
The 2017 conviction stemmed from allegations of corrupt practices and criminal conspiracy in the allocation of the Rajhara North Coal Block in Jharkhand to Kolkata-based Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Limited (VISUL). The trial court’s decision implicated Koda and his associates in a significant corruption scandal from the UPA era, leading to prison sentences of three years for the involved parties and imposing hefty fines—Rs 50 lakh on VISUL, Rs 25 lakh on Koda, and Rs 1 lakh on Gupta. A K Basu also received a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
