BSY, HDK named in Lokayukta report

Reddys are into mining in State as well, says Justice Hegde

The ministers, who figure in the report, are B Janaradhana Reddy, Karunakara Reddy, B Sreeramulu and V Somanna.

Justice Lokayukta Santosh Hegde is yet to submit the report on illegal mining to the government. However, certain details of the report were available to the media on Wednesday evening.

The Lokayukta, the investigating agency, has not found any direct involvement of Yeddyurappa in illegal mining. But two of the trusts, including Prerana in Shimoga, which are run by his family, have received huge donations from the Southwest Mining company of the Jindal group.

The report states that Yeddyurappa’s family had taken Rs 40 crore from the mining company to process its application seeking mining lease. Yeddyurappa’s sons—B Y Raghavendra, MP and B Y Vijayendra—and his son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar were found selling one acre of land at Rachenahalli near Bangalore International Airport to the mining company for Rs 20 crore.

The market price of an acre of land is about Rs 2 crore. Selling the land at an exorbitant price indicates an ulterior motive, the report notes.

The Southwest Mining company, which operates in Rajasthan, had donated Rs 10 crore to Prerana Trust. The partner companies of Southwest Mining—Techno Manpower Supply and Services Pvt Ltd, Jai Bharath Technical Services Private Limited and Real Technical Solutions Private Limited—reportedly donated Rs 10 crore to Prerana Trust.

The chief minister was well aware of illegal mining in the State but did not accept that his cabinet ministers were involved in it. Though the ministers from Bellary were collecting “hafta” from mine owners, no action was initiated by Yeddyurappa.

The names of some officials, including his principal secretary I N S Prasad, IAS, figure in the report. The sons and son-in-law of Yeddyurappa had “contacts” with those into illegal mining.

HDK’s role

Janata Dal (Secular) leader Kumaraswamy, when he was chief minister, had favoured two mining companies, Janatakal Enterprises and Sai Venkatesh, in sanctioning mining lease, out of turn. Jantakal was allowed to illegally transport ore in Chitrdurga. Company owner Vinod Goel had created fake environment clearance documents. Under pressure, Kumaraswamy had allowed the company to carry on its illegal business.

Housing Minister V Somanna’s sons, Arun and Naveen, were found having stakes in Mata Minerals  which is into illegal mining in Tumkur.

Hegde told Deccan Herald: “I am pained by the fact that the certain details of the report have been leaked to the media. I do not know how it has happened. But I am sure my officers have not leaked the details. The report is still at the binding stage in a press.”
Asked whether Yeddyurappa has stakes in mining, he replied in the negative. But, Yeddyurappa’s trusts have received donations from a mining firm. Hegde has put the loss due to illegal mining in the state at Rs 1,827 crore in the last 14 months. However, he has not been able to assess the total loss.

To a question whether the Reddy brothers of Bellary, who own Obalapuram Mining Company besides two more firms, have mining business in Karnataka contrary to their claims, Hegde said: “They are into mining in Karnataka, too. They are also into illegal mining. Even the names of Health Minister B Sriramulu and BJP legislator Nagendra of Bellary figure in the report.”

As many as 100 pages have been devoted to explain the business transactions of the Reddys in the report. “The Reddys have found running something called Zero Transport business under which many mining lease holders are routing their business,” he said.

It has been established that extensive irregularities have been carried out by the companies owned by Lakshmi Aruna, wife of Janardhana Reddy. The Reddys were found hoarding ore illegally in Bellary district , They used to illegally transport ore to OMC in Andhra Pradesh. The Reddys had transferred the ownership of their Associated Mining Company illegally.

The Reddys were found operating GLA Trading International Company in Singapore and thus evaded huge amounts of income tax. The Reddys were exporting ore from their domestic to GLA at throw away prices and later selling in international market. The Lokayukta has collected financial transactions of the Reddys from the Income Tax Department. It has been found that the Reddys were into benami business. 

Reddys’ associates—Swastik Nagaraj, Kharapudi Mahesh, Govindraj, Ali Khan and others, who were involved in mining business—also figure in the report. The Reddys were operating their business by having government officials of their choice posted at Bellary.
IAS officer B Shivappa, IPS officer Seemanth Kumar Singh and IFS officer S Muttaiah are also named in the report.

Asked whether boundary lines were destroyed by OMC has been established in the report, Hegde said: “No. The matter is before the Supreme Court.”

The Lokayukta said the report has 5,000 pages. “The report is already leaked. What’s the significance in submitting the report,” he asked.  Minister V Somanna denied that he was involved in illegal mining. “It is true that my son had 15 per cent stakes in Mata Minerals until 2009. However, the company was closed in 2009, and its ownership is now with the industries department. But this does not mean that either my son or I were involved in illegal mining,” he added.

The Lokayukta report has established that V S Lad mining company and Canara Minerals of the family of Anil Lad had carried out illegal mining in Tumkur and Bellary. Lad said he welcomed the report.

S B Minerals owned by Anand Singh, BJP legislator from Vijayanagar, too, was found encroaching upon huge tracts of forest land to extract ore. V Muniyappa, who was mining minister in the S M Krishna’s cabinet, had given permits for mining in the forest areas in violation of rules.