NEW DELHI: In the case of Mahesh Kumar Agarwal, Nirmal Kumar Agarwal v. CBI. The Delhi High Court suspended the four-month prison sentences awarded to two directors of a company who were convicted for allegedly conspiring to cheat the Government of India in 2003 to get a coal block in Odisha allocated in their favor.
The bench held by Justice Anu Malhotra noted passed an order in which it says, –
“It does not appear that the convicts herein are likely to evade the process of law in as much as despite their not having been released neither before the institution of the charge sheet nor thereafter in as much as they were not incarcerated at any stage coupled with the factum that the period of more than 6 ½ years has lapsed from when the trial commenced (sic)…”
The plaintiff’s counsel argued that they did not have criminal antecedents and weren’t flight risks. Besides, there was no scope of tampering with evidence, given the fact that they had been convicted.
However, In order, the Court imposed a fine of ₹60 lakh fine on the applicants deposited. This, coupled with the fact that the applicants did not have any antecedents, prompted the Court to suspend the sentence.
