Odisha Uliburu mining scam accused sent to seven day judicial custody

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, July 3:

The District Sessions and Judge Court, Khordha today sent the prime accued Deepak Gupta and his associate Satyabrat Rout to a seven-day judicial custody in connection with Odisha’s multi-crore Uliburu mining scam.

Both have been sent to Jharpada jail after they were produced before the court today.

The  court has posted the hearing of the bail petition filed by the accused as well as the petition by the Enforcement Drectorate (ED)   seeking a 15-day remand of the accused to July 10.

ED’s special public prosecutor advocate S Mohanty said they had prayed before the court to take Gupta and Rout on remand for interrogation in connection with offences committed by them in the mining scam.

The sessions court Judge Dr Durga Prasanna Choudhary, after hearing both public prosecutors of plaintiff and ED, ordered that both the accused be sent to  judicial custody for seven says.

Deepak Gupta, who was operating the Uliburu iron ore mine leased out to B K Mohanty by virtue of a power of attorney, has been accused of violating forest and mining laws. The mine is closed since 2009 after the government cracked down on illegal mining operation in the area. The reports of the mines department suggest that the miner excavated huge amount of iron ore from forest area by shifting the boundary pillars into adjacent reserve forest even after the lease validity expired in 2003.

Earlier, the State Government had suspended 16 officials including two officers of the Indian Forest Service in connection with Uliburu scam.