Janardhana Reddy, Srinivasa Reddy sent to 14-day judicial custody

Former Karnataka minister and powerful mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy and MD of Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) BV Srinivas Reddy, arrested in connection with alleged mining scam, were today sent to 14-days judicial custody by a local court today.

Janardhan Reddy and Srinivas Reddy were brought from Bellary and produced before a special court which sent them to judicial custody till September 19.

The duo were arrested this morning by a CBI team led by its joint director, Hyderabad, VV Lakshminarayana at Bellary in Karnataka after conducting searches at their premises.

While producing the duo, CBI moved a memo seeking their custody for 15 days which was opposed by the defence counsel.

In its remand report, CBI has shown Srinivas Reddy as accused number one and Janardhan Reddy as accused number two.

In its memo, the investigating agency contended it has to interrogate the accused as OMC has "violated" all norms and crores of rupees were involved in the alleged illegal mining.

Opposing the CBI plea for custody, the defence counsel argued the investigating agency did not follow the procedure.

Instead of filing a petition for seeking custody, CBI filed a memo in a hurry which was against the procedure of a court of law, Raghavachari, counsel for Janardhan Reddy, contended.

He said his client is a reputed person and is a former minister and urged court to grant bail immediately to Janardhan Reddy saying he would co-operate with the agency in its investigation and also surrender his passport.