Cong MLA sentenced to 42 years in mining scam

BENGALURU: In a landmark judgment, a special court in Bengaluru has sentenced Congress MLA Satish Krishna Sail from Karwar to 42 years in prison for his role in the illegal export of iron ore from Belekeri port in Karnataka during 2009-10.

The court's decision also includes six other defendants involved in the scandal, with sentences that extend up to seven years per case.

A substantial fine of ?44.09 crore has been levied on the convicted individuals and their associated companies. Sail, a key figure in the scandal, faces a personal penalty of ?9.26 crore and an additional ?9.26 crore in fines for his company, Shri Mallikarjuna Shipping Private Limited, where he serves as managing director.

The sentences were delivered by Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat of the Special Court for criminal cases involving current and former MPs and MLAs, who, on October 24, pronounced the punishment under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.

In each of the six cases, the sentences for offences such as cheating (under Section 420 of the IPC) were designated to run concurrently within each case, yet the court did not order that all sentences across the cases would run concurrently. Consequently, the cumulative sentence totals 42 years.

The defendants, however, retain the right to appeal for a unified concurrent sentence across all cases in higher courts.

In each case, the court imposed the maximum punishment of seven years for cheating, five years for criminal conspiracy (Section 120B of the IPC), and three years for theft (Section 379 of the IPC), along with financial penalties.

The list of other convicted individuals includes Mahesh J Biliye, a former Deputy Conservator of Ports, sentenced to seven years in each case, and prominent business figures such as Chetan Shah of Ashapura Minechem Limited and Prem Chand Garg of Lal Mahal Limited.