Aizawl: A special court (prevention of corruption ) in Aizawl on Friday sentenced Ravi Gulgulia of Mizo Carbon Products Limited and three others to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh each in a multi-crore corruption case. The four were convicted in an order pronounced on Thursday.Special Judge F Rohlupuia convicted Ravi Gulgulia of Guwahati, Vimal Kishore of Silchar (Cachar district), Sandeep Agarwal of Guwahati and Pramod Bharech of Kolkata under IPC Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine).The court acquitted 13 others, mostly govt employees, holding that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.The case began after a PIL was filed in the Gauhati high court in 2017 by anti-corruption activist Vanramchhuangi, popularly known as Ruatfela Nu. The petition alleged that executives of Mizo Carbon Products Limited attempted to fraudulently obtain Rs 10.34 crore as Central Transport Subsidy (CTS) without supplying the required quantity of raw coal.The petition said the firm was set up as a partnership to manufacture low-ash metallurgical coke, hard coke, coke breeze and allied products at its unit in the Industrial Growth Centre at Luangmual in Aizawl, using raw coal imported from outside Mizoram.Initially investigated by the state anti-corruption bureau, the case was handed over to the CBI on Oct 17, 2017, under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.According to the CBI’s findings, the company claimed to import raw coal from outside the state to produce coke, but did not actually import coal or manufacture coke in the quantities claimed. Investigators said the firm claimed and received over Rs 3.41 crore under CTS and the Central Capital Investment Subsidy (CCIS) despite its Luangmual unit not meeting the requirements.The CBI also alleged that the company used forged documents relating to equipment and transportation to claim CTS and CCIS.Investigators cited one instance in which a truck carrying raw coal was shown as making eight trips a day between Khlehriat in Meghalaya and Luangmual in Aizawl — about 312 km — raising questions about the veracity of transport records.
