A Delhi court on Wednesday sentenced former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devender Darda, and businessman Manoj Kumar Jayaswal to four years in jail in a case related to irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh. The court found them guilty of cheating the government of India to obtain the coal block. Immediately after the court order, all three convicts were taken into custody.

Former coal secretary H C Gupta, and two former senior public servants K S Kropha and K C Samria were also sentenced to three years in jail in the same case. However, the three convicts were granted bail by the court to enable them to challenge their conviction and punishment before the high court.

The court also imposed fines on the convicted parties. The company, JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd, was fined Rs 50 lakh, while the Dardas and Jayaswal were fined Rs 15 lakh each. The other three convicts were directed to pay a fine of Rs 20,000 each.

The case relates to the allocation of a coal block, and the court emphasized that the convicts cheated the government of India, causing a significant loss to the nation. This marks the 13th conviction in the coal scam, a major scandal that shook the former Manmohan Singh government. The court had previously found the seven accused guilty of criminal conspiracy and cheating.

During the sentencing arguments, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sought the maximum punishment of seven years for the convicts, claiming that Darda and his son had tried to influence the investigation by meeting with the then CBI director Ranjit Sinha at his residence.

The scandal came to light in 2012 after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) criticized the government for inefficient allocation of coal blocks. The CAG estimated a loss of 1.86 lakh crore rupees to the exchequer due to the non-transparent allocation of coal blocks to public sector enterprises and private companies between 2004 and 2009.