Panaji, Sep 20 (TNN): Politically influential mine owner Prafulla Hede has been booked, for the second time, for his alleged involvement in illegal mining.

Hede, a former coordinator between the state unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the party's high command, is accused of running a mine in Collem village of Sanguem taluka, between 1988 and 2007, through a lease whose renewal was illegally condoned for delay. An SIT official told TOI that the state governments during that period had condoned, without any authority to do so, the leaseholder's delay in filing for renewal of the mining lease.

On Friday, an FIR against Hede "and others" was registered following a complaint before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) by mines director Prasanna Acharya. He had been booked earlier, in October 2013, by the anti-corruption branch (ACB) of the vigilance department following a complaint by social activist Sudip Tamankar.

In his complaint, Acharya has stated that between 1988 and 2007 mining operations were carried out in TC (title of concession) no. 30/1950 through the illegal condonation of delay given by a public servant/government official at that period, which was in violation of Section 19 of the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. Acharya stated that the mine was operated illegally in violation of Section 4(1) (1-A) of the Act and had caused losses to the government exchequer and illegal gains to the mine operators.

In the ACB case against Hede, former Congress chief ministers Digambar Kamat and Pratapsingh Rane, former mines minister Somnath Zuwarkar, and government officials had been named. The case was later transferred to SIT for further investigations.

SIT has so far registered 16 cases of illegal mining and has arrested seven people, of which six are out on bail. SIT has also filed a chargesheet in one case.