A special Lokayukta court probing the 2007 Janthakal mining case refused anticipatory bail to former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD (S) state chief HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday.
Kumaraswamy is an accused in an illegal mining case registered by special investigation team (SIT).
On May 17, a local court in Bengaluru had granted Kumaraswamy an interim anticipatory bail for a week. This was in connection with the case following the arrest of senior IAS officer Gangaram Baderiya. The SIT had purportedly found a cheque of Rs 10 lakh issued by the company to the officer’s son.
Baderiya, who is currently the Revenue Department Secretary, was an officer of Mines and Geology Department at the time of the alleged irregularity.
It is alleged that Baderiya was pressurised by then CM Kumaraswamy to allow Janthakal (by renewing its license) to mine iron ore and manganese in Chitradurga district in 2007 on the basis of two forged letters of Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Additionally, mining baron and BJP leader Gali Janardhana Reddy, who was also summoned by the SIT in the case, claimed that he has video evidence to prove that the JDS chief accepted Rs 150 crore in bribes from the mining company.
"I have asked the SIT to grant me three weeks time to furnish the evidence for the allegations made against former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. I had earlier said that he had received kickbacks of Rs 150 crore from mining company owners. I will furnish video evidence within three weeks before the SIT," Reddy had said on May 19.
However, Kumaraswamy had maintained innocence on his part and said that this was nothing more than political vendetta, with elections scheduled to be held in less than a year’s time.
In March, the Supreme Court had directed a Special Investigation Team of the Karnataka State Police to probe roles of former CMs of the state--HD Kumaraswamy and N Dharam Singh--going by the report submitted by the former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde.