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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has conducted search at the offices of Electrosteel Castings Ltd (ECL) and the residence of company MD Umang Kejriwal.
This is in connection with Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natrajan’s decision in 2012 to allow diversion of forest land for iron ore and manganese mining by Electrosteel in the core area of an elephant reserve in the Saranda forests of Jharkhand.
The proposal was approved ignoring objections raised by the same Ministry under the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government between 2008 and 2010.
The CBI has filed an FIR against Natrajan and Kejriwal accusing them of criminal conspiracy and other corrupt practices for alleged violation of “mining laws, environmental laws and directions of the Supreme Court”.
Preliminary enquiry
According to the FIR (a copy of which is available with BusinessLine), a preliminary enquiry finds that Electrosteel had signed an MoU with the Jharkhand government in 2004 to set up a one-million-tonne per annum of steel plant, later revised in 2007 to 3 mtpa.
Parallely, Electrosteel had sought a mining lease of 192.50 hectares for iron ore and manganese mining. Application was lodged before the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) for diversion of 55.79 hectares of forest land for mining purposes.
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