An FIR was registered against External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and two other former Karnatka chief ministers by the Lokayukta Police today on a private complaint alleging that they facilitated illegal mining during their tenure.

Apart from Krishna, his senior Congress colleague N Dharam Singh and JDS state unit President H D Kumaraswamy, who succeeded him as chief ministers, have been named in the FIR, Lokayukta ADGP Satyanarayana Rao told PTI.

Eleven bureaucrats have also been named in the FIR filed under under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Forest Conservation Act, Forest Act and Minerals and Metals Regulation and Development Act (MMRDA) and IPC.

Admitting a private complaint filed by T J Abraham on December 3, Lokayukta Court Judge N K Sudhindra Rao had directed the police to investigate it and submit a report on or before January 6.

The complainant has alleged Krishna, who was the Chief Minister from October 1999 to May 2004, and Dharam Singh and Kumaraswamy permitted illegal mining for pecuniary gains.

Abraham, a city-based social activist and a businessman, had submitted that his complaint was based on the report on illegal mining presented to the government by then Lokayukta Santosh Hegde in August.

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After FIR, Krishna pins hopes on judiciary
As a case was filed against him in Karnataka, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today said he had no role in issuance of licences for mining as Chief Minister and expressed confidence that the judiciary will put to rest "unholy attempts" at his character assassination.

"I find from media reports that a private complaint has been filed in the Hon'ble Court dealing with Lokayukta cases in Bangalore. I am given to understand that allegations have been made against me, two other ex-Chief Ministers and a number of officers," he said in a statement.

He said while his legal team would take "appropriate action at the appropriate time", he considered it necessary to clarify matters as "silence on my part would give rise to speculation".

"I wish to point out that I never retained the portfolio of Mines and Geology. Further, to the best of my knowledge, no mining licence was issued during my tenure," he said.

"Even if such licences were issued, this would have been done by the competent authority of the Mines and Geology Department," the Minister said, adding "in view of the above there is no wrongful loss to government. Consequently, there can be no wrongful gain."

Krishna, who had served as Karnataka Chief Minister from 1999 to 2003, said "there has been no de-reservation of forests, as being incorrectly reported."

He said the cabinet had sometime in 2003 decided to de-reserve mineral wealth for mining. "Government is fully empowered to take such a decision as per the Minerals Concession Rules, 1960," he said.

With this, four former chief ministers are facing Lokayukta police probe based on private complaints. B S Yeddyurappa was released on bail last month after his arrest on a private complaint alleging irregularities in land denotifications to benefit his family members.

ADGP Rao, in a press release, said the investigation of the case had been entrusted to a team comprising Tumkur Lokayukta Superintendent of Police S M Jagadeesh Prasad, who will be the chief investigating officer.

Officials named in the FIR include six former managing directors and three deputy general managers of Mysore Minerals Limited, a public sector unit.