Blitz Bureau
IN a setback to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, the Supreme Court has dismissed his plea seeking suspension of his conviction in the Rs 4,000- crore coal scam to enable him to contest forthcoming Assembly polls.
A Bench, headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, refused to interfere with the decision of the Delhi High Court disposing of Koda’s plea for suspension of conviction.
Koda’s special leave petition before the apex court contended that he could not be disqualified from contesting the elections due to the pendency of the criminal appeal and that “denial of suspension would have irreversible consequences which could not be compensated in monetary terms or otherwise”.
The Delhi High Court had recently disposed of Koda’s plea and agreed with the CBI’s contention that Koda’s fresh application filed under Sections 389(1) and 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was non-maintainable since a similar plea seeking suspension of conviction was dismissed in 2020.
A Bench of Justice Neena Krishna Bansal of the Delhi HC had said that there was “no change in circumstances or in law, entitling a fresh look on this second application for suspension of conviction”.
“The ground of participation in the upcoming elections in the State at that time was duly considered while denying the earlier application for suspension of conviction,” Bench added.
Koda was found guilty in the coal scam and on December 16, 2017, a Special CBI court in the Patiala House court complex, sentenced him to three years in jail under the Prevention of Corruption Act and imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh.
