Bengaluru: In a move which would spell trouble for some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in the run-up to next year’s elections to the Legislative Assembly, a cabinet sub-committee on illegal mining has recommended handing over of several cases of illegal export of iron ore from Mangaluru and Belekeri ports to the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The investigation by SIT, which would help counter the onslaught by BJP leaders against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and some of his cabinet colleagues, would commence soon after a formal go-ahead by the cabinet, according to chairman of the sub-committee and RDPR minister H K Patil.
He told the media here on Friday the sub-committee favoured a probe by the SIT as the CBI declined to probe these cases on technical grounds. In a letter to the chief secretary, the top brass of CBI had expressed helplessness to go ahead with the investigation on technical grounds though about 130 companies (54 in Mangaluru and 76 in Belekeri) had illegally exported 3.65 lakh tones of iron ore worth over '5,000 crores from these two ports.
On receipt of a formal communication from the CBI, the state government constituted the cabinet sub-committee to explore possibilities of handing over the investigation to other agencies.
“Our panel has favoured a probe by the SIT. The cabinet will take a final call on the investigation,” he added.
Official sources said that the SIT, probing cases of illegal ore export below 50,000 tonnes, has registered 72 cases so far and filed chargesheets in 22 cases. Officers of the SIT are likely to invoke provisions of Criminal Justice Act against the guilty as it would be difficult to punish the guilty under existing rules, sources added. The move on illegal export of iron ore comes close on the heels of reports that the state government has drawn up the final report on power purchase scam during the previous BJP regime with an intention to embarrass state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa and Member of Parliament Shobha Karandlaje.
