Former Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was likely to be summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Lokayukta probing the 2007 Janthakal illegal mining case, has been granted interim bail by the sessions court till May 24.
Kumaraswamy applied for the anticipatory bail a day after SIT arrested senior IAS officer and revenue secretary Gangaram Baderiya for allegedly allowing mining company Janthakal Enterprises to lift iron ore and manganese from Chitradurga without clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The former CM is sure in the dock as Baderiya, in his statement, had mentioned that he was under “tremendous pressure” from the chief minister's office.
“It is a political conspiracy by the Congress government. If Baderiya was under pressure from me, why didn't he complain to the chief secretary? This is a ploy to silence me,” charged Kumaraswamy.
A 1989-batch IAS officer, Baderiya had allegedly received kickbacks from the mining company to renew the licence in 2007 when he was the director of the Mines and Geology Department.
Of the 70 cases referred to the SIT based on Lokayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde’s report on illegal mining in the state, the team has, so far, filed chargesheet in 28 cases and filed ‘B’ report in 19 cases for lack of evidence, while the remaining are under investigation.
Interestingly, Justice Hegde, in his report stated that Baderiya had used a forged letter to illegally facilitate lifting of about one lakh metric tonnes of low grade iron ore and manganese in Chitradurga for Vinod Goel of Janthakal Mining Company Private Limited. The kickbacks were remitted to Baderiya's son Gagan's account and the officer had no clear answers to justify the source of the Rs 10 lakh found in his son's account.
Baderiya has been remanded to SIT custody till May 18. Though the officer is to be suspended as per the rule, the state government stated it was awaiting the SIT report. Law minister T.B. Jayachandra clarified it was the Centre's prerogative to remove the officer from the service.
Meanwhile, JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda defended his son stating he had done no crime. “During Kuamarswamy's tenure as the CM, the state has not suffered any revenue loss due to illegal mining. The Lokayukta report had pointed out irregularities during the Dharam Singh regime and recommended recovery of Rs 33 crore from Singh to compensate for the loss,” Gowda said.
