The transfer of VV Lakshminarayana, Joint Director of CBI, Hyderabad to Mumbai, has environment activists in north Karnataka fretting, as they fear that cases of illegal mining against former minister Gali Janardhana Reddy will now be slowed down.
Lakshminarayana has been transferred as chief of Crime Branch in Mumbai.
Lakshminarayana’s gutsy work had put Reddy, who three years ago was the most powerful politician in Karnataka, who has been in jail for over 500 days. Lakshminarayana, who had joint responsibility for Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka has also been instrumental in pursuing cases of disproportionate wealth against Jagan Mohan Reddy, who too has been in jail for over a year.
The move of the UPA government in truncating Lakshminarayana’s deputation to the south, is being seen as a deliberate gambit to slow down high profile cases like illegal mining and disproportionate assets of Jagan, Rumours are abuzz among Congress workers that the party high command may have signalled the slow-down of the inquiry against Jagan as an olive branch for the son of the late YS Rajashekhara Reddy, to return to his parent party before the Assembly elections due in Andhra Pradesh next year.
Environmentalists are, however, upset about Lakshminarayana’s repatriation to his home post, expressing apprehensions that the move could derail the prosecution of Janardhana Reddy and his cohorts.
Lakshminarayana got two extensions in his Hyderabad posting after completion of his five-year tenure, and according to senior police officers, getting an extension of deputation in CBI even for a year is a rarity. And hence, there is no likelihood of the government amending its order to enable Lakshminarayana to continue in his joint charge of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
A junior colleague of Lakshminarayana told dna that the senior officer was interested in continuing in Hyderabad to see the logical end of the cases against Janaradhana Reddy and Jagan, but had no choice to accept the government order.
Speaking with dna, anti-corruption crusader SR Hiremath said he would file an interim application in the Supreme Court to direct the Union government to continue Lakshminarayana in his current post.
Tapal Ganesh, a mining lease holder and campaigner against illegal mining, said: “Any officer replacing him, even though equally competent, would not be as effective in pursuing the case, since she or he may not have the depth of understanding of illegal mining.”
A BE and MTech hailing from Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh itself, Vasagiri Venkata Lakshminarayana joined IPS and was allotted the Maharashtra cadre. His stellar work as SP of Nanded took him to Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad. His deputation as DIG, CBI, in Hyderabad ended on June 11, 2006. Honoured with Indian Police Medal in 2006, he has experience of successfully handling cases like accounting scandals, encounter killings, OMC Scandal, Emaar Properties scam and Satyam scandal. According to CBI officials, extensive and painstaking investigation and documentation is his strength.
A police officer in Bellary recalled an incident two years ago. After he was arrested by Lakshminarayana from his home, Janardhana Reddy, then a minister, asked the CBI officer to allow him to travel in his own car on the journey to Hyderabad to face the CBI court. Lakshminarayana firmly refused. “You are just an accused,” he told Reddy, adding, “Simply sit in our car.”
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