Eight arrested in mining scam in Orissa

Seven senior government officials were among eight persons arrested on charges of involvement in the alleged multi-crore mining scam in Orissa's Keonjhar district on Thursday.

Seven senior government officials were among eight persons arrested on charges of involvement in the alleged multi-crore mining scam in Orissa's Keonjhar district on Thursday.

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The case pertains to illegal mining of Manganese valued at Rs 110 crore from two mines at Rudukela and Katasahi in Keonjhar district, Director, Vigilance Anup Kumar Patnaik said.

The eight arrested included five officials of the mines department, two from forest department and a mines operator, identified as Shakti Ranjan Dash, official sources said. Their houses were raided yesterday.

The anti-corruption sleuths, however, could not arrest a mine owner S N Dasmohapatra, whose house was also searched yesterday, as he had obtained anticipatory bail from a court, the sources said.

The officials arrested were: Ganeswar Mohanty, Joint Director, Mines, Debendra Kumar Mishra, Joint Director, Mines, Manmohan Biswal, Deputy-Director, Mines, Sasadhar Sahu, ex-joint director, Mines, Routray Murmu, mining officer, Dilip Beuria, range officer of forest department and Kamalakanta Pradhan, a forester.