Delhi Court Acquits Two Former MSMCL Officials in Adkoli Coal Block Case
A Delhi court on Monday, July 13, 2026, acquitted two former Maharashtra State Mining Corporation Limited (MSMCL) officials in a case involving alleged irregularities in the allocation of the Adkoli coal block. Special CBI Judge Dheeraj Mor cleared the accused after ruling that the foundational ingredients of criminal conspiracy and cheating remained wholly unestablished.
The acquitted officials are Dominic Gabriel Philip, a former managing director of the MSMCL, and Avinash Manohar Rao Warjukar, a former chairman of the corporation.
The case originated from a 2012 FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding the Marki-Zari-Jamni-Adkoli coal block, which was allocated to the MSMCL in 2006. The federal agency had charged the officials with criminal conspiracy, cheating, and violations under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The CBI had accused Philip and Warjukar of entering into a criminal conspiracy to favor Sunil Hi-Tech Engineers Limited (SHEL). The agency alleged the officials declared SHEL technically eligible for a joint venture despite the company lacking the required mining experience. Furthermore, the CBI claimed that specific clauses introduced into a draft Joint Venture Agreement during a 2009 board meeting improperly allowed the sale or pledge of shares, deviating from initial bid guidelines to benefit the private entity.
However, in a 157-page judgment, Special CBI Judge Dheeraj Mor stated that the decision to declare SHEL technically eligible was not a unilateral act by the accused. Instead, the court found it was a "collective institutional decision" that was scrutinized and approved at multiple levels of the Maharashtra government, including a High-Power Committee and the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure.
The court noted that once the proposal was independently examined, deliberated upon, and consciously approved by the competent authorities, the ultimate decision became an institutional decision rather than the unilateral act of Philip and Warjukar.
Additionally, the court highlighted that the prosecution failed to produce any evidence of quid pro quo, illegal gratification, deception, or dishonest intention. The court concluded that there was no evidence of any clandestine agreement or that MSMCL was induced to part with any property or valuable security. Consequently, both accused were ordered to be acquitted of all charges.
