Raipur, Sep 27: The Dantewada police have arrested the Essar group's General Manager for Kirandul, D.V.C.S. Verma, as part of an ongoing probe into charges that the company routinely paid the banned Communist Party of India (Maoists) significant sums of money to operate in rebel controlled territory. This is the first time that an individual directly employed by Essar has been arrested in this connection, reports The Hindu.
The Essar group has denied allegations that the group paid protection money to the Maoists.
On September 10 this year, the Dantewada police arrested B.K. Lala, a private contractor, on the suspicion that Lala served as a go-between for Essar and the Maoists.
A resident of Palnar village, Lingaram Kodopi, was also arrested for allegedly accepting Rs. 15 lakh on behalf of the Maoists.
“ Verma was arrested on the basis of information gained from interrogating B.K. Lala,” said Ankit Garg, Superintendent of Police, Dantewada, “He shall be in police remand for two days.”
Garg declined to provide any specific grounds for Verma's arrest on the grounds that investigations were still underway.
Garg said the police had also sought to interrogate Pawan Dubey, an employee and part-owner of Jai Johar, a recently established NGO that conducts a significant proportion of Essar's corporate social responsibility programmes in Dantewada and Bastar.
“At present Pawan Dubey is absconding, we have asked the court to issue an arrest warrant,” said Garg.
Relatives of Kodopi, the alleged Maoist courier arrested with civil contractor B.K. Lala, have questioned the police version of events.
Kodopi's aunt, Sodi Soni had claimed earlier this month that Kodopi was arrested from his home and subsequently framed by the police. The police have insisted that Soni is also a Maoist cadre. Soni is currently absconding as well.
While the Essar company has said that B.K. Lala was given contracts for work at the Essar plant, a company spokespersons stressed that Lala also worked for other companies in the area.
“The Essar Group vehemently rejects all allegations made regarding payments to Maoists. Essar would like state that such baseless allegations are being made to hurt the image and reputation of the group, which is a law abiding corporate.
“Essar has been making meaningful contribution for the growth of the country for the last forty years. It has always put country's interest first in all its dealings,” said a spokesperson in an emailed statement.
