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15. In the charge sheet, the role of each one of the accused has been specifically narrated by the Investigating Agency. Accused Nos.1 & 2 / Respondents, represented by its Managing Director / Accused No.1, Accused No.3/Shri Rithesh Milapchand Jain, CEO of Accused No.2/Company, Bellary, Smt. Shamim Bhanu / Accused No.4, the then Secretary of Commerce & Indstries, Govt. of Karnataka, Bengaluru, Shri Viswanathan/Accused No.5, the then Principal Secretary, Department of Commerce & Industries, Govt. of Karnataka, Bengaluru, Shri S.P. Raju / Accused No.6, the then Deputy Director, Mines & Geology, Hospet, Government of Karnataka and Shri. Ramakant Y Hullur / Accused No.7, the then Circle Inspector of Police, Sandur Police Station were parties to a criminal conspiracy hatched at Bengaluru, Bellary, Hospet & other places in Karnataka during the period 1980-2010 to commit the offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, theft of iron ore, criminal trespass, changing the boundaries and criminal misconduct by abuse of their official position. In pursuance of the said conspiracy, Accused No.2/company represented by Accused No.1 & Accused No.3 has done illegal mining outside its lease area, and the accused public servants namely Accused No.4/Smt Shameem Bhanu, Accused No.5/Shri Viswanathan, Accused No.6/Shri S.P. Raju and Accused No.7/ Shri Ramakant Y Hullur, are said to have fraudulently and dishonestly facilitated this illegal mining by way of illegally renewing the mining lease by changing the original sketch, issuing mineral dispatch permits without verifying the stocks and by not taking any action on the complaints preferred by M/s. NMDC, by abusing their official position by corrupt or illegal means. In view of the alleged illegal iron ore mining, the State exchequer had suffered a wrongful loss to the tune of Rs.1232.395 crores and corresponding wrongful gain to the accused persons.

31. Further, the survey conducted at mining lease areas of ML No.2525 of the Accused No.2 and surrounding areas falling under ML No.1111 of NMDC by an independent team headed by the Chief Surveyor, M/s Singareni Colleries, Kothagudem, AP using latest gadgets and GPS readings and other data were collected from the field which revealed that massive illegal mining had taken place at the areas falling under ML No.1111 of M/s NMDC by Accused No.2. The said data was assessed by the experts to arrive at the total quantity of iron ore illegally extracted by Accused No.2 from the date of commencement of their mining operation till date to be around 62 lakhs MT as against 81 lakh MT of iron ore extracted from within its mining lease area ML 636/2080/2080A/2525. Therefore the total quantity of iron ore extracted during the said period is 1.43 crore MT as calculated by the expert team based on the data collected from the mining pits and its surroundings. This figure of 1.43 Cr MTs roughly corresponds to 1,13,33,228 MT (1.13 Crore MTs) of iron ore declared by the Accused No.2 as their production for the period 1975 to April 2011 before the Dept of Mines and Geology & other statutory agencies. It is clear from the said figures that the Accused No.2 had been mining outside their ML area and such illegal mining amounts to an offence of theft. As per the survey, it is revealed that the total iron ore extracted by Accused No.2 from the ML area of M/s NMDC was 62,73,657.738 MT and the total cost of iron ore extracted by Accused No.2 from the ML area of M/s NMDC was Rs.1,232,39,51,089 (Rs. 1,232,395 Crores approximately) as contended by the Spl. Public Prosecutor.

35. It is contended that the learned Special Judge while passing the impugned order discharging Accused Nos.1 and 2, has erroneously held that Accused No.2 / Company has not at all encroached upon the area of M/s. NMDC. In this regard, it is submitted that CW-2 speaks about the boundaries of Mining Lease Nos.1111, 2080 and 2525 of the accused No.2 / Company. The witness CW-3 speaks about the complaints of illegal mining activities conducted by accused No.2 / Company and the action taken. The witness CW-4 speaks about the encroachment by Accused No.2 / Company. The statement of witnesses CW5 to CW10 would indicate the role of the Accused Nos.1 to 3 in the encroachment. Further, the statement of CW-15 would indicate the illegal mining activities carried out by the accused No.2 / Company. The statement of CW-17 would indicate the role of Accused Nos.1 to 3, about the Directors, about the Annual Report of the Company and non-intimation of 2.2 lakh MT removed by Accused No.2 / Company. Similar is the statement of CW-36. Statements of CW-37 and 44 would indicate that several complaints were filed against Accused No.2 / company in the illegal mining activities being carried out by the accused Nos.1 to 3. Further, the documents in the form of complaints by the officials of M/s. NMDC, investigation report of the Central Excise Department, charge-sheet filed by the Forest Department against Accused No.2 / Company, data relating to production submitted by Accused No.2 / Company and several other documents would clearly indicate that the accused No.2 / company had in fact encroached upon the mining area of M/s. NMDC.

87. Whereas in para 16 to 19 is pertaining to the CEC survey and the order of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in which CBI registered the case and conducted the investigation. CEC survey had clearly brought out the encroachment and illegal mining done by the accused company M/s.DMSPL and the said mining lease was categorized as category-C and its mining lease was cancelled and the survey report was accepted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India which confirmed that the illegal mining carried out by the accused company. Further investigation conducted by CBI reveals that the accused company had conducted illegal mining from the areas of M/s.NMDC and iron ore to the extent of Rs.1232 crores were mined and in the illegal mining the petitioner Accused No.1 had directly participated and also benefited. Further, in para 20 to 37 are relating to the boundaries of mining area of M/s.NMDC and M/s.Deccan Mining Syndicate. It is pertinent to mention here that M/s.NMDC has surrendered 105 Acres only on the forest area and not where the mining activities and encroachment done by M/s.Deccan Mining Syndicate Pvt. Ltd. Further, during the period of S.M.Jain also Rajendra Kumar Jain was actively involved in the mining activities and the same were through the ROC documents submitted along with the charge sheet for the purpose of perusal.