Illegal export of iron ore from Belekeri port: Karnataka High Court suspends sentence and grants bail to MLA Satish Sail and five other convicts

The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday, November 13, suspended the sentence imposed on Karwar MLA Satish Krishna Sail and other convicts and granted them bail in the six separate cases of illegal export of seized iron ore from Belekeri port in Karwar during 2009-10 in which they were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of seven years by the special court in each of these cases.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the interim order on separate petitions filed by Mr. Sail and other five individuals of the total six convicted persons, and seven companies, including Shree Mallikarjuna Shipping Pvt. Ltd. (SMSPL) of which Mr. Sail is the managing director. The SMSPL and Mr. Sail were convicted in all six cases as they were found guilty of exporting seized iron ore by purchasing it from six other companies.

Deposit 25% of fine

The High Court directed all the convicted individuals to deposit, within six weeks from Wednesday, 25% of the fine imposed by the special court on them as one of the conditions during the pendency of consideration of their appeals against their conviction and imprisonment.

Earlier, P. Prasanna Kumar, Special Public Prosecutor for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had probed the cases on the Supreme Court’s directions, said Mr. Sail is facing a total of 42 years of imprisonment as the special court has not merged the imprisonment of seven years imposed in each of the six cases.

However, Senior Advocate C.V. Nagesh, who appeared for Mr. Sail and his company, said the trial court had erred in imposing the imprisonment of up to seven years under certain provisions of the Indian Penal Code while also pointing out that the special court had failed to quantify the fine amount on each of the convicts. He pointed out that all the convicts were on bail during the pendency of the trial.

‘Order vague’

Meanwhile, the High Court also orally observed that the order of the special court imposing the sentence and the fine was vague as it had not quantified the fine as the special court had merely said that the accused persons would jointly and severally pay the fine imposed.

Mr. Justice Nagaprasanna, before whom the appeals had come up for hearing, had adjourned the appeals till Wednesday to hear the arguments on their plea seeking interim order of suspension of sentence and grant of bail.

The Special Court of Sessions for criminal cases against former and present MPs and MLAs on October 24 convicted Mr. Sail in his capacity as the managing director of SMSPL, six other individuals, and seven private companies based on the chargesheet filed by the CBI, which had probed the case on the Supreme Court’s direction. The special court on October 26 pronounced the sentence, awarding seven years of imprisonment to each of the convicted individuals in each of the six cases.

Published - November 13, 2024 07:21 pm IST