Vigilance sleuths grill Deepak Gupta's family

The sleuths of state vigilance wing on Tuesday interrogated the family members of Deepak Gupta, accused in the alleged Rs 1,800 crore Uliburu mining scam.

About two teams of the anti-vigilance wing questioned Haricharan Gupta (father), Kantadevi Gupta (mother) and Nitu Gupta (wife) of Deepak Gupta, who also worked as directors in Deepak Steel and Power.

Haricharan Gupta denied any knowledge of current whereabouts of his son.

"On the basis of the notice served, they have deposed before the vigilance. As they are mere directors of the company, they have no role to play in the company affairs," said the counsel of Gupta family.

Earlier, the Odisha High Court had restrained the State Vigilance Directorate from arresting the wife and parents of Deepak Gupta till September 11.

The vigilance in its affidavit had alleged that Gupta had mined around 45.22 lakh tonne of iron ore from Uliburu reserve forest and gained Rs 893.67 crore profit during 2003-2010.

Gupta, though a power of attorney, was operating the BK Mohanty iron ore mine at Uliburu under Joda mining circle where large scale irregularities have been spotted by the state mines department. Gupta had raised ore from the reserve forest area adjacent to the mine by shifting the lease boundary.

Earlier, the anti-corruption department had arrested mine owner B K Mohanty, who claimed that he was unaware of the illegal activities.

"We will continue our efforts until Deepak Gupta is arrested," said Sashi Bhusan Mishra, S P, Vigilance.

The state government had terminated the Uliburu mining lease of B K Mohanty and took control of it and decided that idle iron ore stock of around 300,000 tonne will be sold by state owned Odisha Mining Corporation through the e-auction route.

So far the state government has suspended 18 officials in the multi crore mining scam including two senior IFS (Indian Forest Service) officers.