Ex-Coal Secretary and coal scam accused HC Gupta has withdrawn his application for cancelling his bail.
Former Coal Secretary and an accused in several coal scam cases, HC Gupta today withdrew his application for cancelling his bail. Mr Gupta had told a special CBI court last week that he would rather face trial from inside jail than be out on bail since he could no longer afford his legal defence.
Just two weeks ago, Mr Gupta had filed an application before special CBI judge Bharat Parashar saying his "inner voice" was telling him that "god wants me to be in jail." Judge Parashar had then counselled the former top official offering him the option of seeking legal aid from the state, which Mr Gupta refused.
Mr Gupta, who was the coal secretary between 2006 and 2008, is accused of irregularities in allocation of coal mining rights to private companies. As chairman of the screening committee that looked into allocation of coal blocks, Mr Gupta is accused of not following a transparent auctioning system and consequently causing losses running into crores to the state exchequer. He has been booked in as many as 8 cases relating to irregularities in coal mining rights.
In May the court had rejected Mr Gupta's plea seeking a joint trial of the several cases against him, citing his advancing age and precarious finances. The court had rejected his plea saying that the various cases were at different stages and could not be heard simultaneously.
There has been a huge outpouring of support for Mr Gupta since he filed his application seeking cancellation of his bail earlier this month. The IAS Officers Association, of which Mr Gupta is a member, has offered to help him financially. In his application to the court today, Mr Gupta submitted,
"A large number of distinguished public servants from different services have also since advised me to follow the normal legal procedure. They have also pointed out the larger implication of my earlier decision. Being mindful of your views as also those of a large number of public servants and well wishers, I have decided to withdraw the submissions in this regard. "