Former coal secretary and four others, including two serving government officials, were today granted bail by a Special Court in connection with a coal blocks allocation scam case. The five accused including H C Gupta and two senior serving government servants K S Kropha and K C Samaria appeared before the court in pursuance to the summons issued against them and sought bail in the case.

After hearing the arguments, Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar granted bail to all the accused. The court had summoned them as accused in the case while refusing to accept the closure report filed by the CBI in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal block to Madhya Pradesh-based firm Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Limited. The court had yesterday allowed CBI to carry out further probe in the case, saying the agency may place records of the case before the authorities for grant of sanction to prosecute the public servants.