The Special Vigilance Court here on Thursday slapped a notice on Deepak Gupta, the power of attorney holder of the BK Mohanty iron ore mines and the main accused in the Rs 1,800-crore Uliburu mining scam.
The latka, as the notice is called in common parlance, was stuck on the walls of his residence, office and other prominent places at Barbil in Keonjhar district.
The notice has asked Gupta and four of his family members Haricharan Gupta (father), Champak Gupta (brother), Kantadevi Gupta (mother) and Nitu Gupta (wife) to appear before the Special Judge (Vigilance), Keonjhar before September 12.
On Tuesday, the court had declared the Guptas proclaimed offenders as the summons sent by post returned unaccepted from their residence as well as from office addresses.
Official sources said that though the State Vigilance expects appearance of the Guptas at the court by the notified date, the investigating agency may go ahead with steps like seizure of property of the family if they fail to do so.
In its affidavit before the Keonjhar District and Sessions Court on Wednesday, the Vigilance had claimed that Gupta has allegedly mined around 45.22 lakh MT of iron ore from the Uliburu reserve forest illegally and gained Rs 893.67 crore of profit out of the mining between 2003 and 2010.
The affidavit further maintained that 13 officials of the Mines and Forest Departments had allegedly assisted Gupta in smuggling of iron ore.Earlier, the Vigilance, after conducting raids at several places, had registered criminal cases against 18 persons, including Deepak Gupta.