Penalty to the tune of Rs 130 crore was imposed on a firm run by State Agriculture Minister Babu Bokhiria’s son in a case related to multi-crore illegal mining of limestone in Porbandar district.
During a hearing of the case, Porbandar Collector on Monday informed the Gujarat High Court that the penalty has been imposed on 10 different entities. The companies on whom the penalty has been imposed include Akash Minerals and Mangal Minerals, run by son, son-in-law and relatives of Bokhiriya. The Minister is one of the accused in the PIl filed in Gujarat High Court in connection with illegal mining in Porbandar area.
The penalty is to be recovered from Akash Minerals, firm run by son and son-in-law of the Minister and another Rs 60 crore from Mangal Minerals, a company run by Minister’s family members. In 2006, an official of Saurashtra Chemical Company had registered a complaint against four persons, including Babu Bokhiria, alleging that they had illegally mined limestone from the land where the company held mining rights. The complaint mentioned that Saurashtra Chemicals faced a loss of Rs 54 crore due to this illegal mining activity.
Porbandar Police arrested Bokhiria in 2007 and held guilty by chief judicial magistrate of Porbandar under Section 379 (theft) of the IPC for mining limestone illegally. The court sentenced four to three-years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each.