Missing iron ore: 45 new firms under scanner

A CID investigation in Karnataka into the theft of nearly five lakh metric tonnes of illegally mined iron ore,worth about Rs 150 crore,from Belekeri Port in Karnataka.

A CID investigation in Karnataka into the theft of nearly five lakh metric tonnes of illegally mined iron ore,worth about Rs 150 crore,from Belekeri Port in Karnataka,has now expanded to 45 companies.

Following up on the arrest of officials of 11 firms named in the original police complaint filed by the forest department,the CID has added the names of all companies involved in iron ore exports during the three-month period in which the iron ore theft occurred.

The list of 45 new companies under the police scanner is reported to include iron ore trading and export firms owned by political leaders or their relatives as well as major players in the mining business. However,no arrests have been made from the new companies,senior CID officials said.

Among the biggest companies named in the new list is the Vedanta Group acquired mining firm Sesa Goa. All these companies exported iron ore between February 2010 and May 31,2010 from the Belikeri Port when the iron ore seized at the port by the forest department went missing. They have been made a part of the investigations to help find out who is responsible for the theft, said DGP,CID,D V Guruprasad.

The CID police have also arrested the port conservator,Mahesh Beliya,who was in charge of Belikeri when the iron ore was stolen.

Officials of the forest department and the Karnataka Lokayukta had,through February and March,seized 8,05,991 metric tonnes of iron ore stocked at the Belekeri port yard after investigations had revealed that the iron ore was brought to the port from the mining district of Bellary with forged and invalid permits.

On June 2,an inspection of the seized material by the forest department,however,revealed that nearly five lakh metric tonnes of the seized material had disappeared. An assistant conservator of forest at Ankola,in coastal Karnataka,had filed a police complaint in the matter. The Karnataka government subsequently handed over the theft case to the CID.

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CID officials said they had sought information from the registrar of companies to find out the ownership patterns of all the companies under probe. There may be a lot of benami companies in this as well, officials said.