CBI seeks life imprisonment for the accused of Belekeri illegal mining scam.
Bellary: The CBI has in a submission to the Karntaka high court said those found guilty of involvement in the Belekeri port iron ore export scam could attract life imprisonment owing to the seriousness of the offences involved.
The agency's claim is unlikely to go down well with the high profile men languishing behind bars since it began investigating the scam. Besides former minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, four sitting MLAs B.S. Anand Singh , Satish Sail , B Nagendra and T.H. Suresh Babu and several government officials and miners and exporters are among the two dozen persons arrested by the CBI so far.
Making a strong case for cancellation of the interim bail granted by the JMFC court in Ankola, Karwar district to those arrested for the Belekeri scam by the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the CBI told the court on November 14 that the evidence so far pointed to serious offences that could lead to life imprisonment upon conviction.
It claimed it had enough material to suggest criminal conspiracy, cheating, theft , trespass, criminal misconduct, illegal mining and removal of forest produce by the accused, all which attracted imprisonment for life under sections 406, 409, 379, 411 and 447 read with section 120-B of the IPC and also under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and Karnataka Forest Act 1963.
Pointing out that its Economic Offences Wing was also looking into violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Customs Act by those arrested for the scam, the agency said granting them interim bail would be a big mistake.
( Source : dc )
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