Notice issued to mine owner

A court in Odisha's Keonjhar district today issued notice to a mine owner Deepak Gupta and four of his family, accused in an alleged Rs 1,800 crore mining scam, to appear before it before September 12 or face judicial action.
In the absence of Gupta and his family members at their residence at Barnil in the Keonjhar township, the special vigilance judge ordered hanging of notices in front of their house and other public places in the township.
The notices sought that Gupta, father Haricharan Gupta, brother Champak Gupta, mother Kantadevi Gupta and wife Nitu Gupta appear in court before September 12.

The vigilance in its affidavit alleged that Gupta had mined around 45.22 lakh tonne of iron ore from Uliburu reserve forest and gained Rs 893.67 crore profit between 2003-2010.
The affidavit said 13 officials of the Mines and Forest department had allegedly assisted Gupta in smuggling of iron ore.
The anti-corruption wing had raided several places and had registered criminal cases against 18 people including Deepak Gupta.

Gupta held power of attorney on BK Mohanty iron ore mine under Joda mining circle from where mining was carried out illegally and the ore sold.
The anti-corruption vigilance department had arrested mine owner B K Mohanty who had been remanded to judicial custody.

Mohanty had claimed that he was unaware of the illegal activities and said that Gupta had taken power attorney to operate the mine on his behalf.