Scribe framed in ore contract case

The mysterious theft of iron ore from the Belikeri port two years ago, which caused the downfall of many political bigwigs in Karnataka and put BJP government in a tight corner, has now led to the arrest of the Karwar correspondent of a Mumbai newspaper.

It is said that the iron ore barons in Maharashtra have persuaded the Karwar police to ‘frame’ Deepak Shenoy, arrest him and lodge him in the Pune jail. Shenoy was an agent for the ore companies before he became a journalist.
He entered into an agreement with the Hyderabad based company Lakshmivenkateshwara ores limited to buy ore for them. According to sources, Shenoy and his associates sent the company a contract which was valid for only 5 days as the quality and rates of the ore changed every week.

The five-day contract period stipulated that any transaction had to be legalized within that period. The company did not meet the deadline, but deposited money close to `1 crore in the newly-opened bank account of Deepak and associates from a certain account held by Sumithra Apartments.

As the contract period expired, Shenoy transferred the money back into the account of Lakshmivenkateshwara Ores as he had the RTGS and NEFT numbers. But after the transaction, another company, Metachem, came into the picture claiming that the sum deposited into Shenoy’s account was sent by its sister company and questioning Shenoy’s action in remitting it  to the Hyderabad based company.

Shenoy’s family members, who are trying to secure his bail, said he was a CBI witness in the case of ore theft that involved a powerful political family of Maharashtra, and that the ore barons were trying to arm-twist Shenoy and associates to force him to turn hostile.

@mraghuram12