The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Shivakumar points finger at Chief Minister's brother

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Shivakumar points finger at Chief Minister's brother

Staff Reporter

Accuses H.D. Ramesh of exporting iron ore illegally

Bangalore: Charges continue to fly on the illegal mining issue. The former Minister and Congress MLA for Sathanur, D.K. Shivakumar, an insider in the trade in granite, on Friday accused one of Janata Dal (S) national president H.D. Deve Gowda's sons of exporting iron ore from the State by violating all the relevant rules and misusing official machinery.

Speaking to presspersons here, Mr. Shivakumar, a political foe of Mr. Deve Gowda and his sons, demanded that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy immediately arrest his brother, H.D. Ramesh, for, among other things, violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

`Seize ore, vehicles'

He wanted the Government to seize the iron ore that was to be exported by Mr. Ramesh as also the vehicles transporting it to the Mangalore harbour. The firm in which Mr. Ramesh was a director, BSK Trading Inc., had obtained six lakh tonnes of iron ore worth Rs. 150 crore and it could be transported to port at any time for export, he charged.

In what could be termed a reaction to a report published in an English daily on the alleged illegal quarrying of granite by him in the Kanakapura forest area, Mr. Shivakumar claimed that his quarrying and granite business was legal. He was ready to face a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation. If the charge was proved, "I am ready to be hanged or to go to jail," he said.

The Chief Minister, who stopped mining in Kanakapura taluk, should act against his brother if he was impartial, he said.

He alleged that the company with Mr. Ramesh was connected had exported iron ore valued at Rs. 40 crore in the months after Mr. Kumaraswamy came to power. It included 66-grade iron ore from Kemmannagundi, the export of which was prohibited. The Chief Minister's brother, unlike him (Mr. Shivakumar) did not own any mine or have a mining licence or permit to export iron ore, he charged.

The Congress leader, flanked by the former Legislative Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar and Prakash Rathod and B.A. Hasanabba, MLCs, alleged that the erring company was collecting iron ore from mine owners in Hospet, Bellary, Chitradurga, Hosadurga, Chikkanayakanahalli and other places and transporting it under their permits to the Mangalore harbour.

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