The court also imposed a fine of six million rupees. (representative)

Bengaluru:

A special court here sentenced Congress MLA Sateesh Krishna Sail to seven years in jail and imposed hefty fines for theft and illegal export of iron ore seized from Belekeri port during 2009-10.

The Special Court for People’s Representatives convicted the 58-year-old MP from Karwar along with six other accused on October 24.

With the conviction, the fear of losing the membership of the assembly hangs over the two-time deputy.

As Managing Director of Shri Mallikarjuna Shipping Private Ltd, Sateesh Sail was convicted of theft, criminal conspiracy and cheating.

A large quantity of iron ore worth crores of rupees, which was illegally mined in Ballari, was stored at Belekeri port in 2010.

However, the accused colluded with the officials and smuggled him into China.

The others convicted in the case are Deputy Conservator of Ports Mahesh J Biliye, Ashapura Minechem MD Chetan Shah, KV Nagaraj alias Swastik Nagaraj, KVN Govindaraj, Venkateshwara Minerals Karapudi partner Mahesh Kumar and Lal Mahal Limited MD Prem Chand Garg.

Mahesh Biliye, found guilty of criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, was also sentenced to seven years in prison, with the court imposing a fine of six million lei in the main case.

In a related theft case, the convicts were sentenced to an additional three years and the court ordered the government to forfeit the fines.

In a second case, the court sentenced Sateesh Sail to seven more years in prison and fined six million rupees.

For the third case, all the accused were sentenced to five years in prison and fined 20,000 lei, along with a total fine of 9.36 million lei for committing fraud.

In the fourth case, Sateesh Sail, Mahesh Biliye and KV Nagaraj were sentenced to five years and seven years for fraud, with an additional fine of Rs 9.54 crore.

Shortly after the conviction, the Central Bureau of Investigation, which investigated the case, arrested him and two others.

Reacting to the development, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “I appeal to the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly to disqualify the MLA after he was convicted.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)