Special court sentences MLA Satish Sail to 42 years imprisonment in six cases of illegal export of seized iron ore  

A total fine of around ₹44.09 crore has been imposed jointly on the seven convicted individuals and seven companies

A special court in Bengaluru on Saturday sentenced Satish Krishna Sail, Karwar MLA, and six others to a total imprisonment of 42 years, with a maximum imprisonment of seven years each, in six cases of illegal export of seized iron ore from Belekeri port in Karwar during 2009-10.

A total fine of around ₹44.09 crore has been imposed jointly on the convicted individuals and seven companies, which were also found guilty of the offences.

Mr. Sail, a Congress MLA, has to personally pay around ₹9.26 crore as fine apart from paying another around ₹9.26 crore as fine on behalf of his company — Shri Mallikarjuna Shipping Pvt. Ltd., of which he is the managing director.

Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, judge of the Special Court of Sessions for criminal cases against former and present MPs and MLAs, who convicted the accused on October 24, on Saturday pronounced the quantum of punishment and fine for the convicted persons under different provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.

Why 42 years

The court said that sentences imposed for different offences in a case would run concurrently and the convicts are entitled to set off the period that they had spent as undertrial prisoners earlier in each case. However, the court did not pass any order that all the sentences imposed separately in six different cases would run concurrently, and it would mean that the convicts would have to undergo sentence for a total period of 42 years each.

However, the convicts have the option to move the special court and the High Court with a plea to treat all the sentences imposed in six different cases to run concurrently.

Sentences

The court imposed the maximum punishment of seven years each for each of the convicted persons for the offence of cheating (Section 420 of the IPC) in six cases separately while imposing punishment of five years each for the offence of criminal conspiracy (Section 120B of the IPC) and three years each for the offence of theft (Section 379 of the IPC) along with fine.

Meanwhile, Mahesh J. Biliye, the then Deputy Conservator of Ports (now retired), was also sentenced to undergo seven years in imprisonment in each case apart from paying a fine of about ₹9.26 crore individually. He has also been sentenced for the offences under the PC Act in addition to offences under the IPC.

Other convicted and sentenced individuals are Chetan Shah, managing director of Ashapura Minechem Ltd; K.V. Nagaraj alias Swastik Nagaraj and K.V.N. Govindaraj, director and former director of Swastik Steels (Hospet) Pvt. Ltd., respectively; K. Mahesh Kumar alias Karapudi Mahesh Kumar, a partner in Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara Minerals, and Prem Chand Garg, managing director of Lal Mahal Ltd. The other companies found guilty are PJS Overseas Ltd., and ILC Industries Ltd.

Published - October 26, 2024 10:13 pm IST