Bangalore : Retired IAS officer Shamim Banu (62), named in a CBI chargesheet in an illegal iron ore mining case and sent to judicial custody by a special court on September 7, was granted bail Monday considering her age and gender.

Her judicial custody had created a controversy last week. While the IAS Officers Association supported Banu, the courts questioned the expression of solidarity when a bail plea was pending in the matter.

“We have not adopted a resolution. We have only expressed solidarity with our former colleague. We have full faith the judiciary will provide justice. She had a spotless career and we are sure she will come out clean,” Additional Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee, who is secretary of the IAS Officers Association in Karnataka, had said after Banu’s arrest.

The Karnataka High Court questioned the rationale behind the public display of solidarity.

“Is it justified for the association to express solidarity with an accused officer when the criminal case and the accused officer’s bail application are pending before court?” a judge said.

The former additional chief secretary is one of two senior Karnataka IAS officers arrested since the CBI began probe into illegal mining by Bellary company Deccan Mining Syndicate (DMS) on a Supreme Court directive issued in October 2011.

Banu, as a secretary in the department of commerce and industries, allegedly allowed renewal of a mining lease to DMS in 1999 despite a report that the company encroached on mining land belonging to the National Mineral Development Corporation, causing it a loss of Rs 1,232 crore between 1999 and 2010.

Retired additional chief secretary N Vishwanathan (72) of the 1966-batch of IAS was arrested in June this year in the same case.

He is accused of enabling the encroachment by DMS as principal secretary in the department of commerce and industries.