The jailed mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy and the managing director of his Obulapuaram Mining Company BV Srinivas Reddy are now awaiting the court orders on their bail application.
The jailed mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy and the managing director of his Obulapuaram Mining Company (OMC) BV Srinivas Reddy are now awaiting the court orders on their bail application.
The Reddys roped in two senior lawyers Uday Lalit and CV Nagesh to argue on their behalf, the way the former minister of Karnataka was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The special CBI court, however, reserved till Tuesday its orders on the duo’s bail petitions.
Taking the CBI head on, the defence counsel tried to prick holes in the CBI operation, saying that the FIR itself was weak. Sources privy to the argument said the defence lawyers questioned the way the CBI probe had drifted from the original allegations of finding the way the state borders were disturbed by the accused. They also said that the CBI was trying to illegally detain the Reddys by bringing out a conspiracy theory involving unnamed government officials.
However, the CBI counsel argued that the investigation was still on and there was an immediate need for the investigation agency to confront the accused with the material that has been gathered so far.
“We are also looking at the way the accused have laid private roads in forest area to transport the illegally gotten iron ore,” the CBI counsel said.
Not convinced with CBI’s arguments, Reddys’ lawyers sought the court’s intervention to immediately release Janardhan Reddy and Srinivas Reddy on bail since the CBI was falsely implicating them in a case that was beyond the notification aimed at establishing the state borders.
Reddys were arrested recently in a surprise operation by the CBI team. The accused are now lodged in the Chanchalguda central prison. Meanwhile, the CBI is also chasing the key aides of the Reddys, who are said to have been helping the accused stash away wealth and key documents.
The CBI has already confiscated about 60 kg of gold from Janardhan Reddy’s house apart from more than Rs3 crore in cash. Another Rs1.5 crore was recovered from Srinivas Reddy’s house.
The CBI is believed to be going through certain documents that are conclusive enough to prove that the accused did indulge in illegal mining making millions.
“The evidence indicates the windfall in profits made by Reddys. A back-of-the-envelop calculation points out that the mining cost about Rs150 per tone and the Reddys sold the ore for Rs5,000 a tonne,” a source said.
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