Karnataka Cong MLA gets 7-year jail for exporting iron ore illegally

For transgression conspiracy nether IPC conception 120B, Sail was sentenced by Special Court Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat to five-year imprisonment successful each the six cases with a good of Rs 20,000 successful each lawsuit to beryllium paid by each the accused. On charges of theft nether IPC conception 379, helium was sentenced to three-year imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000. All the sentences volition tally concurrently.

Biliye was besides sentenced to three-year imprisonment nether the Prevention of Corruption Act and fined Rs 50,000. A businessman, Sail was elected arsenic an Independent MLA from Karwar successful 2013 but mislaid the 2018 polls. He became a Congress MLA successful 2023.

An archetypal probe by the Karnataka Lokayukta successful March 2010 recovered that astir 8 lakh tons of robust ore was transported from Bellary to the Belekeri larboard adjacent Karwar successful Karnataka without mining, wood oregon transport permits. In 2012, the Supreme Court had directed the CBI to “investigate the case(s) relating to the amerciable extraction of astir 50.79 lakh MT of robust ore from the wood areas of Karnataka during the play January 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010, the amerciable transport of the aforesaid quantity of robust ore from the area(s) of extraction to Belekeri Port and from determination its amerciable export to different countries.”

The stolen robust ore is alleged to person been exported illegally with the assistance of Biliye and agencies astatine the larboard similar the Mallikarjun Shipping Company, owned by Sail. The tribunal imposed penalties of implicit Rs 9 crore successful 4 of the six cases, Rs 6 crore successful 1 lawsuit and Rs 90,000 successful another. The biggest punishment of Rs 9.52 crore was imposed for cheating involving exports by Swastik Steel from Hospet successful the erstwhile Bellary district. “Accused Mahesh J Biliye, M/s.Swastik Steels (Hospet) Pvt Ltd, K V Nagaraj @ Swastik Nagaraj, K V N Govindraj, M/s Sri Mallikarjuna Shipping Pvt Ltd, Satish Krishna Sail are hereby convicted for the offence punishable nether Section 420 of IPC,” the tribunal bid said. The tribunal ordered that the full good magnitude would beryllium forfeited to the state.

“Though the offence was not committed by him arsenic an MLA, it is required to beryllium reminded that the radical successful precocious bureau should ever behave successful a mode which volition beryllium exemplary to the nine and surely not of committing fraud connected the nationalist astatine large,” the tribunal observed.