Odisha Steel and Mines Min 'admits' truck episode in '98

Odisha's Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick today admitted that a truck owned by him was "caught" by police, but claimed he had "no knowledge" that mineral was being transported "illegaly" in the vehicle by a Congress leader, who had hired it from him.
"I used to own a truck before joining politics. My truck was hired by a Congress leader for transport of chromite ore. Since the owner is held responsible for anything that goes wrong with the vehicle as per law, I had to pay the fine of Rs. 95,000," Mallick told reporters.
He was replying to a question, on the allegation of illegally transporting minerals about 17 years ago and paying the penalty of Rs 95,000, levelled by senior Congress leader Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra.

Saying that he had "no knowledge" that chromite ore was being ferried in his vehicle, Mallick said, "I will quit politics, If it is proved that I did it knowingly. After this development, I had also sold off my truck."
Earlier, Mohapatra had alleged that minister Mallick, way back in 1998, had paid penalty for "illegally" transporting mineral in his truck.
Mohapatra maintained that the minister had a truck bearing registration number - OR062306.
"Parjang Inspector-In-charge had seized the vehicle when it was transporting chromites illegally. Later, Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Talcher, had asked Mallick to pay a fine of Rs 95,000 with an undertaking that there won' be any recurrence of such thing," Mohapatra said.