BENGALURU: Former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy's plea for anticipatory bail in the Janthakal mining case was rejected by the Lokayukta Special Court on Tuesday.
The former chief minister is an accused in an illegal mining case registered by a special investigation team (SIT) on the basis of the Justice Santosh Hegde report.
Last May, a vacation bench of the Lokayukta court had granted Kumaraswamy interim anticipatory bail under certain conditions.
The judge had ordered SIT to release Kumaraswamy on executing a bond of Rs 5 lakh and two sureties in the event of his arrest. Accordingly, Kumaraswamy had appeared before SIT.
In the Janthakal mining case, Kumaraswamy is accused of pressurising IAS officer Ganga Ram Baderiya, ex-commissioner of mines and geology, to allow Vinod Goel, managing director of Janthakal Enterprises, to lift iron and manganese ore dumped in Chitradurga in 2007.
The directive was based on forged letters purportedly issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests asking the State to lift the dumped iron ore.
Baderiya, who is presently secretary in Karnataka's Revenue Department, is out on bail after arrest by SIT.