Illegal ore export: Karnataka HC suspends conviction of Congress MLA

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday suspended the conviction and sentencing of Karwar MLA Satish Sail and others in cases pertaining to the illegal export of iron ore from Belekeri port. The court also granted them bail.

The convicts had filed criminal appeals challenging their conviction and prayed for suspending the sentence and fine amount imposed on them by the special court for cases involving elected representatives.

Justice M Nagaprasanna directed the petitioners to jointly deposit within six weeks 25 per cent of the fine amount imposed by the trial court in their respective cases.

Congress legislator Sail, owner of Mallikarjuna Shipping Pvt Ltd, and others were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, cheating and theft in six cases and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in each case. They were also directed to pay a hefty fine of more than Rs 9 crore in each case.

Other convicts in these cases are: Mahesh J Biliye, the then deputy conservator of ports; Chetan Shah, managing director of Ashapura Minechem; K V Nagaraj alias Swastik Nagaraj, director of Swastik Steels; its former director K V N Govindaraj; K Mahesh Kumar alias Karapudi Mahesh Kumar, partner of Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara Minerals, and Prem Chand Garg, managing director of Lal Mahal. The other companies - PJS Overseas and ILC Industries - were also held guilty by the special court.

In March 2010, forest officials had seized around 5 lakh MT of iron ore stocked at the Belekeri port, Uttara Kannada, for which the port authorities were unable to provide necessary documents. The seized iron ore was handed over to Mahesh Biliye, the port conservator. The CBI case was that a large portion of seized iron ore was stolen and exported without valid documents.