Samaj Parivartan Samudaya (SPS) on Tuesday described the Supreme Court’s recent direction to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to probe into allegations against Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar and nine major mining companies as “another milestone” in its legal battle against illegal mining in the State.
Addressing presspersons here, S.R. Hiremath, samudaya president, said that there was strong evidence to prove that Mr. Shivakumar used his influence over the former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh in 2005 to get allotment of over 10.80 lakh tonnes of iron ore to eight companies, some of which were owned by his brother, D.K. Suresh, and his associates such as K. Ponnu Raj and himself (Mr. Shivakumar), he said.
Likening the alleged illegalities committed by Mr. Shivakumar with that of the Reddy brothers, Mr. Hiremath said: “While Gali Janardhan Reddy and his associates looted natural resources in the northern part of Karnataka with the alleged connivance of the administrative machinery, Mr. Shivakumar and his associates replicated it in southern part of the State.”
Responding to Mr. Shivakumar’s allegation that the samudaya’s charge was politically motivated in view of the elections to the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Hiremath said that the samudaya’s fight was against all those who have allegedly plundered natural resources “illegally and irregularly”.