The General Manager of Essar’s Kirandul project, DVCS Verma, was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the alleged transfer of cash to the Naxalites by the company as protection payoff.
The Essar group has a major business operation in Dantewada—country’s one of the worst Naxal-infested districts. The company supplies high iron ore from its 8 million tonne per annum (mtpa) iron ore beneficiation plant near Kirandul to the pellet plant in Visakhapatnam.
The iron ore slurry is pumped through a 267 km pipeline (the second longest in the world) to the pellet plant.
The sensational incident was exposed on September 9 after Dantewada police nabbed a contractor working for Essar while carrying a cash of Rs 15 lakh for the Naxalites. The contractor was identified as B K Lala. A Naxal supporter Lingaram Kodopi, who was supposed to carry the cash to the rebels, was also arrested.
Based on the statement given by Lala, the police brought the Essar officials are the scanner of investigation as the contractor confessed that he was paying the money to Naxalites on behalf of Essar. Since it was a high profiled case, the police investigated all aspects of the statement given by the contractor. The company was also served a notice to clarify its stand on 17 points that police raised.
“After the thorough probe that established Essar officials’ link in the case, we finally arrested the General Manager of Essar’s Kirandul project DVCS Verma on Tuesday afternoon,” Dantewada Superintendent of Police Ankit Garg told Business Standard. The Essar official has been booked under relevant sections of the Chhattisgarh Public Security Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) for paying to the banned organization.
Verma was produced before the court in the evening from where he had been remanded to police custody for two days. During the remand period, police would further interrogate the official to get more information about the alleged corporate-rebel nexus, Garg said.
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The Dantewada police chief hinted that a Deputy Manager of Essar posted at Chitrakonda would also be arrested in connection with the case. “We are sending team to arrest the official”, Garg said.
In a statement issued, Essar spokesperson said that the company strongly refutes allegations made against it. The Essar Group vehemently rejects all allegations made regarding payments to Naxalites. Essar would like to state that such baseless allegations were being made to hurt the image and reputation of the group, which is a law abiding Corporate. Essar has been making meaningful contribution for the growth of the country for the last forty years. It has always put country’s interest first in all its dealings.