Bangalore, Oct 17 (PTI): The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Anand Singh in connection with alleged illegal export of iron ore from Belikeri Port in Karnataka.

”Singh was arrested in the city,” CBI officials told PTI here.

Singh, a former Karnataka minister, is the fourth MLA to be arrested by the CBI in the case after B Nagendra and Satish Sail, both independents, and Suresh Babu of BSR Congress headed by former minister B Sriramulu, a close aide of mining baron and former minister Janardhana Reddy, now in jail in an illegal mining case.

The BJP MLA's arrest comes in the wake of CBI Special Court rejecting his anticipatory bail plea on October 7.

CBI had intensified search operations to apprehend Singh, who was believed to be in Singapore, and issued a lookout notice for him.

The central agency had summoned Singh for questioning in September, but he had failed to turn up and fled reportedly to Singapore from where he filed an anticipatory bail application before the CBI court on medical grounds, fearing arrest.

Thereafter CBI arrested Singh's aide and employee Muthiyala Shivakumar on September 23.

The illegal export from Belekeri port in Uttara Kannada district had been exposed in 2011 by the then Lokayukta, N Santosh Hegde, a former justice of the Supreme Court. Hegde had said 7.74 million tonnes of iron ore were illegally exported between 2006-2007 and 2010-11, causing huge loss to the exchequer.

Those in custody include two former officers of the Indian Administrative Service officers and two of the Indian Forest Service.