In a big development, the main accused in the multi-crore Uliburu mining scam, Mr. Deepak Gupta was arrested today. The Vigilance sleuths confirmed that they have strong evidence against Deepak and his family in the scam.
Earlier, the Orissa High Court had restrained the State Vigilance Directorate from arresting Deepak’s wife and parents till September 11. However, they were interrogated about their involvement in the scam on August 27.
While Deepak Gupta was the Managing Director of Deepak Steel and Power, Haricharan Gupta (father), Kantadevi Gupta (mother) and Nitu Gupta (wife) worked as directors in the company. The government has already suspended 18 officials in this Rs 1,500 crore scam.
According to the Vigilance report, Deepak Gupta had mined around 45.22 lakh tonne of iron ore from Uliburu reserve forest and gained Rs 893.67 crore profit during 2003-2010. He was operating the BK Mohanty iron ore mine at Uliburu under Joda mining circle where large scale irregularities took place. The mine owner BK Mohanty was arrested earlier.
