Bangalore, Dec 3 (IANS) Three former Karnataka chief ministers, including External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, will be probed for their alleged role in illegal mining in the state during their tenures, a trial court here ordered Saturday.
The special Lokayukta (ombudsman) trial court issued the directive Saturday to the police attached to it on a complaint from a Bangalore based businessman.
Besides External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, the former chief ministers to be investigated are N. Dharam Singh of the Congress and H.D.Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal-Secular.
Dharam Singh headed the first coalition government in the state of the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) during 2005-06, and JD-S working president H.D. Kumaraswamy headed the next coalition government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from February 2006 to October 2007.
Kumaraswmy currently represents the Ramanagara constituency in the Lok Sabha.
Taking cognisance of the complaint filed by a city businessman, Judge N.K Sudhindra Rao asked additional director general of police (DGP) H.N. Satyananarayana Rao to investigate the charges made against the three former chief ministers and 11 officials and submit the report to the court by Jan 6.
In support of his complaint, businessman and Y’s Men International director T.J. Abraham submitted the first and final reports of the Lokayukta on the multi-crore mining scam in the state from 2000 to 2010 prepared by former ombudsman Justice (retired) N. Santosh Hegde in December 2008 and July 2011.
Though Abraham also submitted documents from the state mines and geology department, the judge directed him to submit the additional documents to substantiate the charges made against the accused.
Krishna, who was the Congress chief minister from October 1999 to April 2004, is accused of releasing the forest areas in the rich iron ore mines district of Bellary, about 300 km from Bangalore, to many mining firms in violation of the environmental laws and illegally amassing wealth in the name of his family members.
Dharam Singh is accused of issuing temporary transport permits for movement of iron ore and manganese ore from farm lands, which were not under mining lease and causing a loss of Rs.23.22 crore to the state’s exchequer.
Kumaraswamy also is accused of illegally approving mining licence to Sai Venkateshwara Minerals and renewing licence of Janthakal Enterprises during his tenure.
Among the accused officials are Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers I.R. Perumal, Mahendra Jain, K.S. Manjunath (retired) and D.S. Ashwath (retired), former mines and geology director Basappa Reddy, state-run Mysore Minerals Ltd deputy general managers K. Srinivas, M. Ramappa and Shankarlingaiah and former Indian Police Service officer Jija Madhvan Hari Singh.
Abraham filed the complaint Nov 30 on the grounds that no action had been initiated by the state government and the law courts against the accused even though the former chief ministers and officers had been implicated in the Lokayukta investigation reports on illegal mining in the state.
