Probe or farce?

More than 6 months after the forest department filed a complaint about the missing ore, the CID seems to be shielding the real culprits behind the multi-crore scam, say sources

Nearly a month ago, the Crime investigating Department (CID) had filed a chargesheet before the Ankola court, naming Belekeri Port conservator Mahesh Biliye and two others. But interestingly, no high-profile arrests have been made so far.


Men of steel: MiD DAY had exposed ILC Industries of lifting a portion
of the seized ore, which is a front company for Obalapuram Mining that
belongs to Tourism Minister Janardhana Reddy. File pic

Those arrested, have been only mere employees of mining giantsu00a0-- now owners have been brought to the book so far. Is the investigating agency soft peddling on them?

So far one FIR and a chargesheet have been filed after the forest department's complaint on June 8, 2010 about the theft of 5 lakh metric tonne of ore that was kept at the Belekeri port. The ore belonged to 57 mining companies and it was seized by the forest department, on March 20, 2010 on the grounds that it was transported violating forest norms.

After the issue created a flutter in the political circles, the government called for a CID probe, while the Lokayukta was conducting an investigation on the same issue on its own.

So far, five arrests have been made, and two persons have been named in the chargesheet. But, all of them, (except Mahesh Beliya, the Belekeri port officer, who was arrested and named in the chargesheet), are just employees of the mining companies. Not a single owner has been taken into custody for questioning so far.

Flashback
MiD DAY had carried a series of reports, and had questioned why the companies' bank accounts were not seized. Following the reports, the CID seized accounts of Salgaonkar Mining, one of the three mining companies named in the chargesheet, though the rest are not affected. Thungabhadra Miners and Gimpex Ltd are the other two companies mentioned in the chargesheet.

While there is no sign of arresting the mine owners, CID is sending out letters to them asking to name responsible persons in their respective companies.u00a0 A source said that this was a move to safeguard the owners and to find scapegoats in the companies.u00a0

"Who else can be responsible persons other than the owners of the company?" wondered a retired judge of the high court. "When you ask the culprit to name the culprit, they will naturally point at a vulnerable person and get away with it."

CID's take
MiD DAY has a copy of one such letter written to ILC Industries. This newspaper had exposed ILC Industries lifting a portion of the ceased ore, which is a front company for Obalapuram Mining Company (OMC) that belongs to G Janardhana Reddy, tourism minister and mining lord, while his close associate and BJP MLA Anand Singh is one of the directors of the company.

D V Guruprasad, DGP-CID, said, "There is no question of guarding anybody. Please don't come to the conclusion that we are not prosecuting the mine owners. We have not yet completed the investigation."

However, he couldn't answer why the owners were asked names of responsible persons with their respective companies. To that, he simply said, "I can't comment on that, as it is a sensitive part of the investigation."