Former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and four others, including a senior public servant, were today granted bail in a coal block allocation scam case by a Special Court in New Delhi. Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar granted relief to Gupta, serving public servant K S Kropha, who was a former Joint Director in the Ministry of Coal, Vishwas Sawakhande, earlier Director in the Directorate of Geology and Mining in Maharashtra government and directors of accused firm Grace Industries Ltd — Mukesh Gupta and Seema Gupta.<br/><br/>The court granted them bail on a personal bond of Rs. one lakh each with one surety of the like amount. The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Lohara (East) coal block in Maharashtra to Nagpur-based Grace Industries Ltd (GIL).<br/><br/>During the hearing, all these accused appeared in the court in pursuance to the summons issued against them and sought bail contending that they have cooperated during the investigation and there were no apprehensions that they would tamper with the evidence or flee from justice.<br/><br/>The court has now fixed the matter for September 21 for scrutiny of documents.