BENGALURU: The Special Court for the trial of cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act has raised serious questions over the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Karnataka Lokayukta probing illegal mining filing ‘B’ reports (closure reports) and letting off the prime accused in the chargesheet in many cases.
The Special Court said, “Needless to say, the SIT has been constituted to undertake the investigation and subject the real culprits of illegal mining in the state to law, to protect the public property and prevent the huge financial loss at the hands of the vested interests.
But the shabby, poor and incomplete investigation at the cost of the valuable time, huge manpower and public money not only defeats the very purpose for which the SIT came into existence, but also becomes an advantage for the true culprits to escape from their criminal liabilities. In fact, the investigation at the hands of the SIT in all other cases which are pending before this court is no better than this condition.
Many cases are seen to have ended in filing of ‘B’ Reports (closure reports), and the go-by given to the prime accused persons in a considerable number of cases pending before this court.”
The court ordered that a copy of this order be sent to the SIT chief to ensure further investigation and submit an additional report within two months.
Export of ore can’t be without involvement of officials: Court
Judge KM Radhakrishna of the special court made these scathing remarks while pointing at letting off of former minister Anand Singh, various mining firms and officials of Mines and Geology, Forest, Commercial, and police departments from the chargesheet filed by the SIT in the case registered against 19 accused and five entities in 2015 over illegal export of 30,284 tonnes of iron ore from Belekeri port from 2009 to 2010.
The court made it clear that the transaction, which is illegal and offensive in nature from inception, continues till its end. This prima facie exposes the involvement of Suhana Minerals, Priyanka Agencies, Taraka Minerals, Amalgiris, and Canara Overseas as the purchasers of not only the stolen ore, but also the illegal ore, as part of a criminal conspiracy.
Also, the remaining partners of the 23rd accused SB Minerals -- Lakshminarayan Singh, Gopal Singh, Panduranga Singh, Srinivasa Sing (dead) Annapurna Bai (dead) and BP Anand Singh aka Anand Kumar Singh -- are seen to have been exempted from becoming the accused in the case despite visible evidence to indicate their prima facie involvement, the court said.
“It is not in dispute that there were several check posts from different departments, namely, Mines and Geology, Forest, Commercial, Police, etc., in between Ballari and Belekeri Port during the check period. The entire ore in question was to reach the port after crossing all these checkpoints. Thus, the transportation, sale and export of the ore to a foreign country cannot be expected without the active involvement and blessings of the officials from these departments, but no investigation is seen to have been carried out to that extent,” the court noted.
At the same time, the court rejected the applications of 12 accused, seeking discharge and three accused under Section 32(A) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, to stop the proceedings in respect of the offences registered against them under the provisions of IPC, Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act and Karnataka Forest Rules.