Bengaluru: Former chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular ) State President H D Kumaraswamy welcomed the decision to probe into his role in the illegal mining by a special investigating team and assured his full cooperation.

In a press release, JDS leader sprang a surprise by welcoming the SC move, which can change his political destiny, in case of an adverse judgement against him by the apex court based on the SIT report.

The Supreme Court earlier in the day, had asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Karnataka Police to investigate the role of former chief ministers N Dharam Singh and H D Kumaraswamy in the iron ore mining case and file a report within three months

The apex court, however, had said that its stay on the investigation against another former chief minister S M Krishna will continue during the period.

A bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman restrained all other courts including the high court from passing any order in the case.

It has been alleged by one of the complainants, T J Abraham that the former state chief ministers connived with several bureaucrats and others in de-registering a huge tract of forest land and allowed illegal iron ore mining on a large scale.

The complainant had also referred to various reports of the then Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde indicting several politicians, bureaucrats and others.

SIT probe gains importance on several grounds including its role as the state’s premiere investigative agency, political future of two state former CMs and on the other side, the strength of allegations levelled against the former CMs by the complainant T J Abraham and former state Lokayuktha Justice Santhosh Hegde.