Uliburu mining scam accused sent to judicial custody

The original leaseholder of Uliburu iron ore mines BK Mohanty was sent to judicial custody on Tuesday for 14 days in connection with the large scale iron ore loot from the mines after the Keonjhar special vigilance court rejected his bail petition. Mohanty will be in jail till August 12.

"I had given the power of attorney to him (Deepak Gupta, managing director of Deepak Steel & Power) and I am not involved in the illegal mining," said Mohanty. Mohanty, who had 35 hectare (ha) iron ore lease at Uliburu in Joda mineral circle, is accused of illegally raising and exporting iron ore worth Rs 1,800 crore up to 2009, before the irregularities were noticed by the government authorities. The miner is said to have excavated huge amount of iron ore from forest area by shifting the boundary pillars to nearby Uliburu reserve forest.

The government counsel has prayed before the court not to grant bail to Mohanty.

"He (B K Mohanty) has made a loss of Rs 839 crore to the government," said DD Biswal, the government counsel.

On Monday, the state vigilance team had raided 10 different places in connection with the Rs 1,800-crore scam and had detained Mohanty for further investigation.

The sleuths seized some cash after raids at the houses of Manas Mohanty, suspended deputy director of mines (Bhubaneswar) and Sarat Chandra Sahu, former deputy director of mines (DDM) of Joda mining circle. They had also raided houses of a Keonjhar forest officer and another former DDM of Joda. The Vigilance has also filed cases against Deepak Gupta and his family members for illegally raising iron ore after obtaining power of attorney from B K Mohanty.