Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday defended Minister of State for Infrastructure Development Santosh Lad by stating that there were no documents to prove allegations of illegal mining against him.

He said the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had listed V S Lad and Sons mining company under ‘C’ category and its licenses were cancelled for ‘overstretching of dumps’ into forest land and not for illegal extraction, transportation or export of iron ore.