Madhya Pradesh Congress unit media chief Manak Agrawal on Wednesday filed a criminal case in the court of the first class judicial magistrate here targeting state chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, along with three state ministers, few senior officers and others, accusing them of involvement in illegal mining to the tune of over `1,000 crores in Sehora tehsil of Jabalpur district.
Mr Agrawal told the court that he had been compelled to file this petition as he had failed to get an FIR registered in this matter at Shyamla Hill police station here.
Besides the chief minister, the petitioner has filed the case against state minister for mineral resources Rajendra Shukla, forest minister Sartaj Singh, environment minister Jayant Malaiya, senior BJP leader and member of Parliament from Morena Narendra Singh Tomar, secretary mineral resources department S.K. Mishra, Jabalpur collector and chairman state Pollution Control Board. In all, there are 27 persons against whom the petition has been filed. The court has fixed November 14 as the next date of hearing in this case.
Through the petition, an attempt has been made to charge the accused under Section 200 of IPC and Sections 420, 467, 468, 120B and 34 of CrPC and for violation of various provisions of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 and other laws linked with mining environment, air and water pollution.
In the petition, Sumit Agrawal and Pradeep Mittal of Pacific Exports, Shri Narsingh Laxmi Mines and Minerals, Mayaram Singh Tomar and Bhardwaj Fortune Minerals have been shown as the main accused responsible for large-scale illegal mining of iron ore and blue dust in the Sehora tehsil of Jabalpur district with the help and patronage of the others accused of involvement and conspiracy resulting in loss to the state and damage to forest and environment.
The petitioner has cited the conclusions of an inquiry conducted by a seven-member committee.
appointed by the government following complaints of illegal mining of iron ore, blue dust and laterite at village Jhiti of Sehora tehsil submitted by Uday Pratap Singh, MP from Hoshangabad, Arif Aqueel, MLA from Bhopal and Ajay Dube, executive director SEIAA. One of the points of complaint is that Pacific Exports had violated the condition of “captive mining use” and started mining activity in a much larger area than permitted that too without obtaining the mandatory environmental clearances. Questions have also been raised on the allotment of mining permission to few selected companies in gross violation of rules and norms.