The Anti-Corruption Bureau of the CBI-Bangalore arrested the former Tourism Minister and BJP MLA for Vijayanagar, Anand Singh, on Thursday.
Mr. Singh, who is accused of supplying 1.45 lakh tonnes of illegally mined iron ore to two trading companies, has been evading arrest since September 19.
The CBI received a tip-off about his arrival from the Intelligence Bureau, according to sources in the State police.
He was produced before the Special CBI Court after a medical check-up at 3 p.m..
The judge handed him over to the CBI for custodial interrogation till October 26.
Mr. Singh, who landed in the city from Singapore at 8.45 a.m. on Thursday, was intercepted at the immigration counter of the Bengaluru International Airport and arrested at 9.30 a.m. by a CBI team, led by Superintendent of Police A.S. Rao. He was travelling alone.
Trip to hospital
From the airport he was whisked away to the Bowring hospital at Shivajinagar here and then taken to the State CBI headquarters on Bellary Road for lunch before being produced in the open court.
The CBI sleuths arrested him on the basis of a non-bailable warrant issued by the CBI court on October 11.
The CBI kept the issue of the non-bailable warrant top secret to prevent Mr. Singh from escaping from Singapore as well. Meanwhile, the CBI headquarters in New Delhi started processing a Red Corner Notice to empower the Interpol to arrest and extradite him from his hideout in Singapore.
However, he tried to outsmart the CBI and planned to surrender before the CBI court.
His plans were foiled as the CBI got wind of his arrival and cornered him at the airport.
The allegation against him is that he procured 1.45 lakh tonnes of illicit ore through his firm Vaishnavi Minerals and sold it to two companies — Amman Enterprises and Shakti Priya Enterprises. They in turn sold the ore to S.B. Logistics which illegally exported it from Belekeri port.
