Cuttack: A special vigilance court of Keonjhar Monday framed charges against eight accused in the multi-crore Uliburu mining scam.
The accused against whom the charges were framed are the prime accused and Snehapushpa Marketing Private Limited director Deepak Gupta, power of attorney holder of the mines BK Mohanty, former deputy director of Joda Manas Ranjan Mohanty, former mine surveyor Haladhar Das, ex-mines inspector of Joda Satyabrata Rout, former Barbil forest range officer Jagannath Mishra, forester Rabindra Mohanty and Barbil former revenue inspector Krutibas Giri. Now, the hearing against the accused will begin in court as the charge sheets have been filed.
The Balasore vigilance police had registered cases against 19 persons including Deepak Gupta and BK Mohanty July 27, 2013 after the Uliburu mining scam came to fore. They were accused of illegal mining of iron ore from Uliburu mines reserved forest area in Keonjhar district. The accused had extracted 47,48,826 metric tonne ore from the lease area and even beyond the specified area.
After inquiring into the case, the vigilance in December 2013 had filed charge sheets in court against 29 persons including Gupta. Subsequently, the vigilance had filed an additional charge sheet in June 2014. In the charge sheet, the vigilance had stated that the state government had lost revenue to the tune of `1520.39 crore due to the illegal mining.
The vigilance had arrested nine persons in connection with the scam, but it failed to arrest other accused including Gupta’s family members. People raised questions over the vigilance probe for not arresting the co-accused so far.
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