Belekeri missing iron ore case: Congress MAL Satish Sail, other culprits awarded 7 years RI

BENGALURU: A special court for elected representatives has sentenced Congress MLA Satish Sail and six others to seven years in rigorous imprisonment and fined a total of Rs 43.67 crore in the six cases related to the missing iron ore from the Belekeri port. All the terms will run concurrently.

The jail term for Satish Sail includes five years for conspiracy and three years for iron or theft. The first accused in the case, Forest Conservator Maheshi Biliye, has also been awarded a seven-year jail term.

In the first case in which Mahesh Biliye is the first accused, Satish Sail the second accused and his company the third accused, the court ordered a jail term of seven years with a fine of Rs 6 crore. In the second case where Mahesh Biliye, Chetan Shah and Satish Krishna Sail are the three main accused, the court ordered seven years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 9.20 crore.

In the third case where Mahesh Biliye, Somashekar and Satish Krishna Sail are the three main accused, the court ordered seven years of imprisonment with a fine of Rs 9.36 crore. In the fourth case involving Swastik Nagaraj, K V N Govindaraju and Satish Krishna Sail, the court ordered seven years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 9.45 crore.

In the fifth case involving Maheshi Biliye, Mahesh Kumar K and Satish Krishna Sail, the court ordered seven years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 9.25 crore. In the sixth case involving Mahesh Biliye, Premchand Garg, Sunil Kumar Valecha, Satish Krishna Sail and Rajkumar, the court ordered seven years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 90 lakh.

The judgment was delivered by special court judge Santosh Gajanana Bhat. Public Prosecutor K S Hema argued the case for the prosecution.

Satish Sail stands the prospect of losing his MLA seat as an elected representative becomes disqualified if jailed for more than two years under the Representation of People Act. However, he has the option to go on appeal to the high court within 30 days.

Regarding the case, CBI had registered an FIR against MLA Satish Sail’s company on September 13, 2013. The investigation began following a Supreme Court order to probe illegal mining and iron ore transportation in Karnataka from 2009 to May 2010.

The CBI filed five separate FIRs, with Satish Sail owned company, Mallikarjuna Shipping Pvt. Ltd., being a prominent one. The FIR, RC 16 (A), stated that within eight months, Sail’s company had exported around 7.23 lakh metric tons of iron ore to foreign countries through Belekeri port.

According to the Central Empowerment Committee (CEC) report, between 2009 and May 2010, approximately 88.06 lakh metric tons of iron ore were exported through Belekeri port by 73 export companies. However, the required export permit (MDP) had been obtained for only 38.22 lakh metric tons.

Investigations revealed that around 50 lakh metric tons of iron ore were illegally exported during this period. It was accused that 7.23 lakh metric tons of iron ore were sent by Satish Sail-owned Mallikarjuna Shipping Pvt. Ltd.

The CBI investigation team had produced documents and submitted a report that Mallikarjuna Shipping Company had close dealings with other ore shippers, including Jhunjhunwala Stockyard.

Sail will be facign arrest for the second time as an MLA. In the case of illegal export of iron ore, the CBI raided MLA Satish Sail’s houses in Karwar-Ankola and seized important documents. After this, Sail was arrested on September 20, 2013. Sail had remained in jail for more than a year. Following that, he was released on bail on December 16, 2014.

Later, he contested the election from the Congress party and lost against the BJP’s Rupali Naik. In the 2023 Assembly election, he got a ticket from the Congress party and won from the Karwar assembly constituency.

Other convicted individuals are Chetan Shah, managing director of M/s Ashapura Minechem Ltd; K V Nagaraj alias Swastik Nagaraj and K V N Govindaraj, a director and a former director of of M/S Swastik Steels (Hospet) Pvt. Ltd; K. Mahesh Kumar alias Karapudi Mahesh Kumar, a partner in Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara Minerals, and Prem Chand Garg, managing director of M/s Lal Mahal Ltd.