BENGALURU: The state government has authorised the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to reopen the cases of illegal export of iron ore, closed by the CBI recently citing “lack of prima facie evidence”.
The state cabinet on Wednesday accepted the recommendation of the cabinet sub-committee headed by Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil in this regard. The cases relate to export of iron ore illegally through New Mangaluru, Karwar, Panaji and Marmagoa ports.
The cabinet’s decision is expected to trigger a fresh bout of political slugfest between the Congress and BJP ahead of the forthcoming assembly elections. The decision has also raised questions about CBI’s integrity in the light of state Congress leaders’ allegations that the Modi government is misusing the agency for political gains.The state government has expressed surprise that the CBI has cited technical grounds for not going to the bottom of the cases. According to sources, 130 comapanies (54 in Mangaluru and 76 in Belekeri) are involved in exporting 3.65 lakh metric tons of iron ore from Karnataka ports.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters that SIT will get all the records transferred to it and dwell deep into the cases.Explaining the background of the case, Jayachandra said the Supreme Court hearing a petition of Samaja Parivartan Samaj related to illegal mining and export cases, had asked CBI to probe the cases involving export of over 50,000 metric tons, while state SIT was given cases below 50,000 metric tons. The SIT has completed investigation into some of the cases and filed chargesheets.
The Lokayukta report which had exposed the scam had estimated the total loss to the exchequer due to illegal export of iron ore from Mangaluru and Karwar ports at about Rs. 16,000 crore in four years (2006-2010).