Bangalore:
The Karnataka High Court has stayed for four weeks proceedings in a case registered against External Affairs Minister SM Krishna. The case is based on a private complaint that alleged that as Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr Krishna allowed illegal mining to continue. In a petition filed in the court earlier this month, the minister had sought quashing of the case.
On December 8, a First Information Report or FIR was registered by the Lokayukta police in Bangalore against Mr Krishna. The FIR also featured two other men who succeeded Mr Krishna as Chief Minister - HD Kumaraswamy and Dharam Singh. The court today also granted a one-month stay on the case filed against Mr Kumaraswamy.
A private complaint by a social activist and businessman, TJ Abraham, had provoked the FIR. He had alleged that as Chief Minister from 1999 to 2003, Mr Krishna took decisions that facilitated illegal mining and did not protect the state's forests.
On December 3, Lokayukta court judge N K Sudhindra Rao had directed the police to investigate the complaint.
Mr Krishna has described the accusations against him as "unholy attempts at character assassination." "I wish to point out that I never retained the portfolio of Mines and Geology." He has also said that no mining licences were issued during his term in office and that he did not permit the de-reservation of forests for mining companies.