Six years after a Lokayukta report indicted two Karnataka Chief Ministers N. Dharam Singh and H.D. Kumaraswamy, the Supreme Court yesterday ordered a probe into the role played by the two politicians in de-reserving 11,797 square kilometres of forest in Ballari district, leading to large-scale illegal iron ore mining.
However, another former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, who recently joined the BJP, got relief as the Apex Court said that the investigation against him "shall remain stayed" for now on grounds that the then Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde had not found any evidence against him.
