Karnataka Cong MLA gets 7-year jail for exporting iron ore illegally

For criminal conspiracy under IPC section 120B, Sail was sentenced by Special Court Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat to five-year imprisonment in all the six cases with a fine of Rs 20,000 in each case to be paid by all the accused. On charges of theft under IPC section 379, he was sentenced to three-year imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000. All the sentences will run concurrently.

Biliye was also sentenced to three-year imprisonment under the Prevention of Corruption Act and fined Rs 50,000. A businessman, Sail was elected as an Independent MLA from Karwar in 2013 but lost the 2018 polls. He became a Congress MLA in 2023.

An initial investigation by the Karnataka Lokayukta in March 2010 found that nearly 8 lakh tons of iron ore was transported from Bellary to the Belekeri port near Karwar in Karnataka without mining, forest or transport permits. In 2012, the Supreme Court had directed the CBI to “investigate the case(s) relating to the illegal extraction of about 50.79 lakh MT of iron ore from the forest areas of Karnataka during the period January 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010, the illegal transport of the aforesaid quantity of iron ore from the area(s) of extraction to Belekeri Port and from there its illegal export to other countries.”

The stolen iron ore is alleged to have been exported illegally with the help of Biliye and agencies at the port like the Mallikarjun Shipping Company, owned by Sail. The court imposed penalties of over Rs 9 crore in four of the six cases, Rs 6 crore in one case and Rs 90,000 in another. The biggest penalty of Rs 9.52 crore was imposed for cheating involving exports by Swastik Steel from Hospet in the erstwhile Bellary district. “Accused Mahesh J Biliye, M/s.Swastik Steels (Hospet) Pvt Ltd, K V Nagaraj @ Swastik Nagaraj, K V N Govindraj, M/s Sri Mallikarjuna Shipping Pvt Ltd, Satish Krishna Sail are hereby convicted for the offence punishable under Section 420 of IPC,” the court order said. The court ordered that the entire fine amount would be forfeited to the state.

“Though the offence was not committed by him as an MLA, it is required to be reminded that the people in high office should always behave in a manner which will be exemplary to the society and certainly not of committing fraud on the public at large,” the court observed.