Illegal Mining: No case against 191 cops,evidence weak

The inquiry was referred to a superintendent of police rank official V S DSouza last year by the then state police chief N Achutha Rao on the grounds that the Lokayukta report did not carry enough evidence to substantiate disciplinary proceedings against the policemen. The 191 policemen figured among a list of 617 government officials identified as recipients of bribe in a computer file seized by the Income-Tax department during a raid on the residence of illegal mining operator Karapudi Mahesh.

Following the preliminary inquiry,the inquiry officer has in a report said,It is safe to conclude that the list of officials said to have accepted bribes from Karapudi Mahesh is not a sound piece of evidence as defined in criminal jurisprudence.

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Santosh Hegde who guided the Karnataka Lokayukta report on illegal mining has questioned the police action of analysing the evidence gathered for the report without registering an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act and taking up a full investigation.

The police inquiry report,however,stands in contradiction to an inquiry conducted by a committee into the role of other government officials. Based on its report,the BJP government on October 28 accepted part of the July 27 report and has initiated disciplinary action against 182 government officials identified through the report.

The state government is,however,yet to decide on action to be initiated against former ministers and political leaders named in the report.