CBI files chargesheet in iron ore scam

The CBI probing the alleged multi-crore iron ore scam today filed its chargesheet against former minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy and six other accused in the case.
The chargesheet running into 15,000 pages was filed before the CBI Special Court Judge Shreedshananda.
Apart from Reddy, S Muthaiah, then Deputy Conservator of Bellary Forest; S P Raju, the then Deputy Director of Hospet Mines and Geology Department; Reddy's close aide Mehfuz Ali Khan, Manoj Kumar Shukla, the then Conservator of Bellary Forests; Nagaraj and K Mahesh have been named in the chargesheet.
The accused have been chargesheeted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The allegation is that the accused were parties to a criminal conspiracy entered among themselves during 2009-2010 to commit various offences including excavation of iron ore from mines and forest areas in Bellary district and surrounding areas
They later allegedly sold the same to various traders and transported it to Belekeri port in Uttara Kannada district for export causing a "wrongful loss" of Rs 198 crore to the exchequer and "wrongful gain" to themselves.

One of the accused prayed to offer a confessional statement.
The court then posted the matter to June 7 for orders on recording of confessional statement.

Earlier, the court dismissed the application filed by Khan seeking interim bail to attend a function.
Of the seven chargesheeted, six are in judicial custody.