CBI arrests Congress MLA Anil Lad in mining scam

BENGALURU: The Rs 16,085-crore illegal mining scam that rocked the erstwhile BJP government has taken its first Congress scalp. Ballari MLA and minelord from the Congress, Anil H Lad, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation here on Wednesday on charges of illegally exporting 15,000 metric tonne of iron ore through the Belikere port in Uttar Kannada district, in the years 2009-10.

CBI sources told ET that Lad's family firm VS Lad and company was accused of exporting the iron ore with no accounts or documentation through the Mallikarjun Shipping Company owned by independent MLA Satish Sail. The latter company is accused of exporting 9,000 lakh metric tonne in 2009-10 via the port.

“Lad was issued several notices, but he didn't respond to them," the CBI source said. Lad is likely to be produced before the CBI special court on Thursday morning.

Lad, a partner in VS Lad and Sons and a former Rajya Sabha MP , was denied a berth in the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka on the grounds that his name figured in the CBI first information report on the scam. A report by the then Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde blew the lid off the mining scam, which led to the resignation of then chief minister BS Yeddyurappa in 2011.Lad's cousin and former minister Santosh S Lad, who was dropped from the Siddaramaiah ministry after a sustained campaign by NGOs and the BJP , has not been named in the FIR or in the scam so far. He told ET: “The family is with Anil and we will work towards a legal solution to his arrest."

Justice Hegde said he was happy that the CBI, acting on the instructions of the Supreme Court, was taking action on the report.“The state government has kept the report in cold storage. I am happy that four years after I gave the report, some corrective action is being taken," he said.