Mining case: Retired IAS officer in judicial custody

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court on Saturday remanded retired IAS officer Shamim Banu in judicial custody till September 21.

During the hearing of her bail petition, the CBI sought time to file its objections, which the court has granted. While allowing CBI time till Tuesday, the court rejected requests from Banu’s counsel seeking an interim bail.

Banu, CBI has alleged, had abetted illegal activities carried out by Deccan Mining Syndicate (DMS), one of the indicted companies in the mining case.

While a charge sheet is yet to be filed, sources maintain that Banu had passed a file seeking renewal of DMS’ lease, instead of rejecting it.

In the said case, the investigating agency has also arrested  Rajendra Kumar Jain, the head of DMS, N Vishwanathan, a retired additional chief secretary, Ritesh Milapchand Jain, a senior executive of DMS, and police inspector Ramakanth Hullar.

The arrests were made following an investigation pursuant to the Central Empowered Committee’s (CEC) findings that DMS had encroached on mines owned by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC).

The CEC, in its submission to the Supreme Court, has accused the promoters of DMS of encroaching on mines owned by NMDC at Donimalai in Sandur, Bellary, and estimates that NMDC, a public sector company, had to bear a wrongful loss of Rs 100 crore due to this.
Sources said DMS had been leased a 50-acre plot by the government in 1966. When the leasehold was to be renewed in 1996, the Department of Mines and Geology had submitted a report blacklisting DMS for having stolen iron ore from NMDC.