Bangalore, Thursday, December 08, 2011: An FIR was registered against External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and two other former Karnatka Chief Ministers by the Lokayukta Police on Thursday on a private complaint alleging that they facilitated illegal mining during their tenure.

Apart from Mr. Krishna, his senior Congress colleague N. Dharam Singh and Janata Dal (Secular) Karnataka unit president H.D. Kumaraswamy, who succeeded him as Chief Ministers, have been named in the FIR, Lokayukta ADGP Satyanarayana Rao told.

Eleven bureaucrats have also been named in the FIR filed under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Forest Conservation Act, Forest Act and Minerals and Metals Regulation and Development Act (MMRDA) and IPC.

Admitting a private complaint filed by T.J. Abraham on December 3, Lokayukta Court Judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao had directed the police to investigate it and submit a report on or before January 6, 2011.

The complainant has alleged Krishna, who was Chief Minister from October 1999 to May 2004, and Mr. Dharam Singh and Mr. Kumaraswamy permitted illegal mining for pecuniary gains.

Abraham, a city-based social activist and businessman, had submitted that his complaint was based on the report on illegal mining presented to the government by then Lokayukta Santosh Hegde in August 2011.

With this, four former Chief Ministers are facing Lokayukta Police probe based on private complaints. B.S. Yeddyurappa was released on bail last month after his arrest on a private complaint alleging irregularities in land denotification to benefit his family members.

Reacting to the development, Krishna said, “Everyone is aware that the then Lok Ayukta Justice Santosh Hegde conducted a very detailed and comprehensive inquiry into the issue of mining from 1999 to 2010 which covered my tenure as Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004,” adding “there is no indictment of me anywhere in the Lokayukta report”.

The fact that Hegde has gone on record in public only further confirms this, he said.

“I fail to comprehend, in the light of the above, the bona fides of the allegations. Attempts at character assassination are one of the most despicable of human behavioural patterns,” Krishna said.

“I am more than certain that the judiciary would vindicate me and put to rest once and for all such unholy attempts,” the Minister added.

(News agency)