London - A group of around 60 people -- representing a variety of organisations from Zambia, Sri Lanka and India -- held protest outside the mining giant Vedanta's London AGM venue yesterday evening against the company's alleged involvement in major illegalities.

Vedanta Resources is reportedly embroiled in scandals and accused of wrongdoings related to its plans of bauxite drilling in Odisha's Niyamgiri hills.

Shortly before the AGM started at 3 pm yesterday, a huge banner was unfurled from the top of the next door building saying 'Vedanta out of London' eliciting cheers from the crowd at the AGM venue.

The protesters were holding a 6-metre inflatable blade of grass referring to Vedanta's chairman Anil Agarwal's repeated claims at previous AGMs that Vedanta 'have not touched a single blade of grass' at the Niyamgiri Hills.

MP John McDonnell joined the demonstration and asked questions inside the AGM after he and other MPs heard the case for investigating and de-listing Vedanta in a House of Commons meeting last week.

Inside the AGM, the leaked conclusions of the suppressed Sandeep Bakshi Judicial Commission report that holds Vedanta guilty of negligence in the 2009 chimney collapse resulted into a killing of 40 workers at Korba in Chhattisgarh, were released.

Meanwhile, Vedanta on 30th July held a consultation on the six-fold expansion of the contentious Lanjigarh refinery, which was met with protests of 1,000 people, including many Dongria Konds, who disrupted the meetings.

They objected to the expansion, saying that the proposed source of bauxite is 3.5 km from the refinery intimating that the firm is still seeking ways to mine the Niyamgiri Hills despite unanimously losing a precedent local referendum last year. (PTI)