Two government officials arrested in illegal mining case

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, May 1, 2012: A senior Karnataka forest official and a retired mines department official were arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths in connection with the illegal mining case involving Associated Mining Company owned by former minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy and his wife Aruna.

A CBI statement identified the arrested as S Muthaiah, then Deputy Conservator of Forest, Bellary District, the seventh accused in the case, and SP Raju, the then Deputy Director Mines and Geology department, Hospet, Bellary district, and the 22nd accused.

Mr Muthaiah, Conservator of Forests (research), Dharwad, is currently under suspension, while Mr Raju has retired.

The duo was produced before the 47th Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge and Special Judge for the CBI cases who remanded them to police custody for 10 days.

On April 27, the CBI court had extended the judicial custody of Janardhana Reddy and his personal assistant Mehfuz Ali Khan, the two main accused in the case, till May 10.

The CBI had filed a criminal case on the directions of the Supreme Court of India dated October 10, 2011 against Janardhana Reddy and others under various Indian Penal Code sections, Prevention of Corruption Act, Indian Forest Act and Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act 1957.