The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Karnataka Congress MLA Satish Krishna Sail in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to illegal iron ore exports, PTI reported on Wednesday, citing official sources.
Satish Krishna Sail, who represents the Karwar Assembly seat in Uttara Kannada, was taken into custody during the night of September 9-10. He was questioned at the ED’s Bengaluru zonal office before being arrested.
Sail was produced before a special court, which sent him to one-day ED custody. Officials said the agency is likely to request an extension of his custody when he appears in court again on Wednesday.
Who is Satish Krishna Sail?
Satish Krishna Sail (born 1966) is an Indian politician from Karnataka. He hails from Karwar in Uttara Kannada district. Sail completed his B.Sc. from Government Arts and Science College, Karwar in 1992.
After that he started his political career by winning the 2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election as an independent candidate, becoming an MLA for the first time. He contested again in 2018 but lost, finishing third behind Roopali Naik of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Anand Vasant Asnotikar of JD(S).
In the 2023 Karnataka Assembly election, Sail returned to the assembly, this time representing the Indian National Congress. He won from the Karwar constituency, polling 77,445 votes and defeating his nearest rival, Roopali Naik of BJP, by 2,138 votes.
In 2024, Sail was convicted for illegal export of seized iron ore from Belekeri port. Despite this, he was appointed chairman of the Karnataka Marketing Consultant and Agencies Corporation on 26 January 2024.
Second Congress MLA arrested recently
Sail is the second Congress MLA arrested by the ED in recent weeks. In August, the agency had arrested Chitradurga MLA K C Veerendra ‘Puppy’ in a separate money laundering case linked to illegal betting.