Bengaluru: Kerala businessman Philip Jacob from a hotel in Kochi on Sunday by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Karnataka police set up to probe illegal mining.
Jacob is managing partner of Amalgiries Private Ltd, based in Panaji, Goa. He was wanted for the scam wherein hundreds of tonnes of confiscated iron ore were exported illegally from Belekeri port near Karwar in Karnataka, police said.
Charan Reddy, head of the SIT unit which came to Kochi, said, “Jacob is being taken to Bengaluru by road; he will be produced before a court there.” Jacob and his firm were involved in at least six mining-related cases, he pointed out.
Sources from the Kochi hotel said the SIT team had been staying there for the past three days. The number plates of their vehicles had stickers that bore Kerala-registration numbers so that Jacob wouldn’t suspect the presence of police in the hotel. The cops reportedly used a room on the fourth floor to monitor the accused. Jacob was accompanied by a woman – believed to be his wife – when he was arrested.
Police said sections of the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act have been slapped against the accused, apart from section 420 of IPC for cheating and dishonestly, inducing delivery of property.
