Anil Lad's Mining Company Raided by Officials, Iron Ore Seized

Bangalore, Aug 28 (IANS): Police and forest officials on Saturday August 28 raided the mining company offices owned by Congress Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad in his home district Bellary and seized stored iron ore and documents.
 
Details of the quantum of ore and the documents seized were not given. Lad told reporters in Bellary that this was a political conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party government after the success of the Congress rally in Bellary on Aug 9 against alleged illegal mining by BJP ministers, the Reddy brothers.

"Who ordered the raid -- the chief minister or the district in-charge minister (Tourism Minister and mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy) or the Lok Ayukta (state ombudsman)," he asked. "We are not indulging in any illegal mining. It is nothing but a political vendetta against me," he said.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa declined to comment on the raids and Lad's charges. Yeddyurappa, who is touring Bidar district in north Karnataka, told reporters he had no information about the raid and hence would not like to comment.

Lad's younger brother Santosh Lad is a legislator of the Janata Dal-Secular. The Reddy brothers - Janardhana, his elder brother Revenue Minister G. Karunakara and the younger G. Somashekara, a BJP legislator - have made Bellary their political base.

The Reddy brothers own the Obulapuram Mining Company which has most of its mines in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh but are accused of large-scale illegal iron ore mining in Bellary. The Congress had organised a huge rally in Bellary on Aug 9 demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the Reddy brothers' mining activity.

The BJP countered it with a rally there on Aug 20.