The bail plea of the 8 accused arrested by the state vigilance in connection with the alleged mining scam running over hundreds of crores was rejected today and they were remanded to judicial custody till 25 August.
The anti-corruption wing of the Orissa government had arrested these persons and forwarded them to court today. They were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Balasore who rejected their bail plea.
In a significant development in the mining scam enquiry, the vigilance authorities had registered cases against 9 persons including 7 officials of the mines department and forest department for showing undue favour to private miners in the alleged illegal mining in Rudukela and Katasahi mines in Keonjhar district.
The arrested persons include Madan Mohan Biswal, deputy director ( mines) Joda, Ganeswar Mohanty, joint director (mines), Dhirendra Kumar Mishra, joint director ( mines), Sasadhar Sahu, former deputy director ( mines), Joda and Routray Murmu, mining officer, Joda, Dillip Kumar Beura, forest range officer, Joda and Kamalakanta Pradhan, forest section officer, Guali.
Though cases were also filed against the private miners S N Dasmohapatra and Shakti Ranjan Das, the former could not be arrested as he had obtained anticipatory bail from the Orissa High Court.
It may be noted, Dasmohapatra held the power of attorney for operating the manganese mines of the Ram Bahadur Thakur Ltd (RBTL), which is at the centre of the mining scam, before the power was transferred in favour of Das.
Meanwhile, the state vigilance is readying to quiz the present director of mines, R N Sahoo. “The involvement of the present director of mines is indicated in the scam. The irregularities could not have happened without his knowledge”, said Anup Patnaik, director of vigilance.
He said, clear demarcation of the area using the services of the revenue officials was not taken up by the mines department.
Besides, the present director and two other deputy directors initiated no action to prevent illegal mining which was going on without the forest and environmental clearance. This has resulted in huge loss of tax and royalty to the state. The demarcating poles used to differentiate the lease areas were moved and S N Das was allowed to mine an area which is not his own.
He said, the vigilance has collected proofs of the illegal mining activities in the area including collection of figures from railway siding, weigh bridge bills, checking of records of crusher machines and checking of small depos in the area. “Within next 2-3 months we hope to reach the conclusion in the case and frame charge sheet against the culprits”, the official added.
