Vigilance court rejects Mohanty’s bail plea

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Jul 30, 2013 at 5:52 PM Updated On : Jul 30, 2013 at 7:39 PM

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury/Edited by Sandeep Sahu

BHUBANESWAR, July 30

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The Special Vigilance Court of Keonjhar today rejected the bail plea of BK Mohanty, the original lessee of the Uliburu mines, and sent him to judicial custody till August 12 in the alleged Rs 1800 crore scam.

Earlier in the day, the state vigilance arrested Mohanty and took him to Keonjhar for further investigation. He was detained by the sleuths yesterday.

After investigations into the multi-crore mining scam, the state vigilance has initiated criminal proceedings against 18 persons in the Rs 1,800 crore Uliburu iron ore mining scam. Besides Mohanty, cases have also been registered against Deepak Gupta, the power of attorney holder of BK Mohanty Mines, and his family members.

The vigilance sleuths had simultaneously raided many places, including the residence of suspended deputy director of mines Manas Mohanty and miner BK Mohanty, yesterday in connection with the mining scam.

About 10 teams of the vigilance department’s special cell conducted the raids in the Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jashipur and Athagarh residences of Forest and Mines department officials suspended for their alleged involvement in the scam.

The state government has already suspended seven mining officials, including deputy directors of mines Manas Mohanty and Madanmohan Biswal and seven forest officials, for dereliction of duty during 2005-2009, when the illegal mining took place. The government will initiate departmental proceedings against them after the vigilance inquiry is over, official sources told OST.