The Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended the four-year sentence of former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devendra Darda and businessman Manoj Kumar Jaiswal in a case related to irregularities in coal block allocation in Chhattisgarh. The bench of Justice Swarn Kanta Sharma has accepted for hearing the appeals filed against the punishment of the convicts. The sentence has been suspended pending appeals challenging his conviction and prison sentence in the case.
The High Court has directed him not to leave the country without the prior permission of the court concerned and not to make any inducement, threat or promise, directly or indirectly, to any person familiar with the facts of the case. The High Court has said that it is directed that the sentence imposed on the appellant shall remain suspended during the pendency of the present appeal. In lieu of this, orders have been given to release the culprits on the basis of a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a bond of the same amount.
The Delhi High Court had on July 28 issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking its response on the appeal by the three persons challenging their conviction and sentence and granted them interim bail till September 26 in the case. Darda, father-son and Jaiswal were taken into custody on July 26, soon after the special court passed the sentencing order, and were released on interim bail two days later.