The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Congress MLA from Karwar Satish Sail on Thursday evening after a special court for People's Representatives in Bengaluru ruled that the legislator was guilty in the Belekeri port case related to illegal transport of 11,312 metric tonnes of iron ore without permission.
Special Court judge Justice Santosh Gajanan Bhatt ordered the CBI to take immediate custody of Sail and two other accused and to produce them before the court tomorrow (October 25) at 12.30 pm, when the quantum of punishment will be pronounced.
It may be recalled that in 2010, manganese was exported from Ballari through the Karwar port and the then Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde exposed the scam in his report on illegal mining, where he stated that 7.74 million tonnes of iron ore had been illegally exported between 2006-07 and 2010-11, causing significant losses to the state's exchequer.
The CBI which investigated the scam chargesheeted Sail, who owns the Mallikarjuna Shipping Corporation involved in the scam, and a forest officer Mahesh Biliye and others. They were charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, trespassing, and corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act.