A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Wednesday found former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and three others guilty of criminal conspiracy in a 2007 coal block allocation case. The court also convicted former Coal Secretary HC Gupta, former Jharkhand Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and one other accused.

In 2014, the Supreme Court had cancelled 214 out of 218 coal blocks allocated since 1993 after a massive investigation into a scam that came to be known as Coalgate.

CBI courts are currently hearing multiple coal block allocation cases in the country, including one against Jindal Steel.

Here are six articles on Scroll.in on the coal scams:

  • How the CBI court established the criminal culpability of three senior bureaucrats in the Jharkhand coal scam case: Among them was former coal secretary HC Gupta, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
  • Questions the CBI should answer before closing its probe in the Jindal coal block case: From the start, controversy surrounded two allocations – to JSPL and a Tata-Sasol venture – by the UPA government.
  • Here’s why the SC verdict in the coal scam could be good for the economy: By assessing the environmental impact before proceeding with mine allocations, logjams will be avoided.
  • Why BJP chose to remain silent on court summons to Manmohan Singh in Coalgate: The saffron party’s target is no longer the former prime minister – it is the Gandhis.
  • Why the Supreme Court verdict in the coal scam is cause for both hope and despair: The verdict is an affirmation of the judiciary’s strength, but the media’s part in the coal allocations scandal borders on shameful.
  • Manmohan Singh must explain how a coal block reserved for the public sector landed with a private firm: Talabira III is missing from the list of coal block allocations but it is central to the CBI’s case against the former prime minister.