The ongoing probe into Illegal Mining in Karnataka have revealed some startling facts, including the fact that transportation of ore has gone up two fold after a ban was imposed. Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde is probing the issue of Illegal Mining, which rocked the Parliament a couple of days ago. Justice Hegde, who is expected to submit his report on Illegal Mining in another four months, told rediff.com that the...

Junagadh BJP MP Dinu Solanki's nephew has come under the police scanner for his alleged role in the murder of RTI activist and green crusader Amit Jethwa. Crime Branch officials said they are probing the role of Solanki's nephew Pratap alias Shiva Solanki, in the case and a team has left for Junagadh to question him in this connection. Sources in the crime branch alleged that Pratap could be the...

When former Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde recently said that vested interests were controlling the mining industry, he was not exaggerating, considering that India registered over 182,000 cases of Illegal Mining across 17 states in the last five years alone. The Union government data show that Andhra Pradesh — the single largest contributor to the country’s mineral production of roughly Rs 1,28,000 crore — alone registered a 110 per cent increase...

London-based Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) on Wednesday denied any mining activity at Niyamgiri Hill. The company is setting up a one-million-tonne refinery at Lanjigarh in Orissa’s Kalahandi district and has been alleged of Illegal Mining activity. “We have not started mining on the hilltop of Niyamgiri. The recent report in a section of media about bauxite mining in Niyamgiri Hill is just misinterpretation of facts and far from the truth,” Dr...

Come August 23 and Bhikhu Jethava, father of slain RTI activists Amit Jethava, will become a joint applicant in the last petition filed by the latter against Illegal Mining. Bhikhu will also mention his dissatisfaction with the police investigation in the much talked about murder case. Bhikhu said he would also demand a CBI investigation into the case. Talking to DNA, Bhikhu alleged that the Gujarat police had tried to divert the...