Jharkhand Coal Scam: Delhi High Court suspends sentence, issues notice in Dilip Ray's appeal against conviction

The Delhi High Court today suspended the sentence awarded to former Union Minister of State, Dilip Ray in connection with his conviction in the 1999 Jharkhand Coal Scam. (Dilip Ray vs CBI).Keeping in view the fact that sentence awarded by the Trial Court is for a period of three years, therefore, I hereby suspend the sentence of applicant during the pendency of the appeal.Delhi High Court said. .A Single Judge Bench of Justice Suresh Kait issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Ray's appeal against his conviction. .Admitting the appeal, the Court listed the matter for hearing on November 23. .Before the High Court, Ray did not press for suspension of order on conviction in view of the appeal being listed for final disposal..The scam pertains to irregularities in the allocation of a Jharkhand coal block in 1999 when Ray was Minister of State for Coal in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government..A Special CBI Court had convicted Ray and others in connection with the coal scam earlier this month. .Jharkhand Coal Scam: Special CBI Judge finds former Minister of State Dilip Ray guilty.Dilip Ray was convicted of conspiracy, cheating, and criminal breach of trust under Sections 120-B, 409, and 420 of the Indian Penal Code. Additionally, he was found to have violated provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act; converting property for his own use and for taking illegal gratification..Yesterday, Ray was sentenced to three-years imprisonment. A fine of Rs 10 lakh was also imposed on him. .Apart from Ray, the court had also convicted two former senior officials of the Ministry of Coal Pradip Kumar Banerjee and Nitya Nand Gautam, as well as the Director of Castron Technologies Limited, Mahendra Kumar Aggarwalla..Banerjee, Gautam and Kumar were also sentenced to three-year imprisonment..Advocates Vijay Aggarwal, Bharat Sharma, Barkha Rastogi, Chandra Prakash, Anirudh Bakhru appeared for Ray. .SPP Mridul Jain appeared for CBI. .Read the Order: