Vigilance continues grilling of Gupta

Deepak Gupta, who was arrested by the state vigilance sleuths in connection with the Rs 1,800 crore Uliburu iron ore scam, has revealed details about his illegal transactions during interrogation, according to sources in the investigating agency.

Gupta, who is in remand with the state vigilance wing till September 11, was interrogated on Monday for a brief period. Sources said, he had divulged a lot of details about the scam, including the amount of excavation, dispatch and the money made from the mineral sale during a field inspection over the weekend at Joda with a team of vigilance officers.

As per data submitted by vigilance, Gupta excavated 4.7 million tonne ore and exported about 4.5 million tonne till 2009 from the Uliburu mines, belonging to B K Mohanty. Gupta was operating the mine by virtue of a power of attorney approved by Mohanty.

The state vigilance had arrested Gupta on September 4, nearly a month after Keonjhar vigilance court declared him a fugitive. The vigilance sleuths had also raided an apartment in Barbil to find out supporting documents on the scam.

The government has already cancelled the lease allotted to B K Mohanty and has taken control over it. State-run miner Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) last month started the process to sell about 350,000 tonne iron ore fines stacked at the mines since 2009 to recover the revenue loss it incurred due to rule violation by Gupta.

The scam of illegal raising and export of iron ore worth Rs 1,800 crore between 2003 and 2009 from the 35 hectare iron ore lease of B K Mohanty at Uliburu in Joda mineral circle has taken a toll on government officials too . The government has so far taken action against 23 forest and mines department officials including two Indian Forest Services (IFS) rank officers. The mine is closed since 2009 following government crackdown.

Forest and mines department allegations suggest the miner excavated huge amount of iron ore from forest area by shifting the boundary pillars into adjacent reserve forest.