Gali Janardhana Reddy is behind bars in Chanchalguda central prison in Hyderabad.
The don of iron ore mining on the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border, Gali Janardhana Reddy, is behind bars in Chanchalguda central prison in Hyderabad. In a swift and secret operation at dawn on Monday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Reddy, the owner of Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), and OMC’s managing director and Gali’s brother-in-law, BV Srinivas Reddy, from Bangalore. The two of them have been remanded in 14 days’ judicial custody.
Reddy was picked up from Bangalore but was arrested in AP, not on the basis of the justice Hegde Lok Ayukta report but on the basis of a case filed against him in Hyderabad.
The arrests came even as reports did the rounds of yet another political consolidation in South India, this at the instance of the Reddy brothers.
According to sources, they along with key aide B Sriramulu — another defiant BJP leader of Karnataka who quit his MLA seat in the assembly the other day — were planning to announce a political party in the name and style of BSR Congress.
The arrests also led to the Congress and the BJP trading charges and counter-charges, linking each others’ leaders to the Reddy brothers and their illegal mining activities. About 15 CBI officials conducted extensive search and seizure operations at the residences of the Reddys in Bangalore and Bellary and confiscated nearly Rs3 crore and 30 kg of gold from Gali’s residence.
Another Rs1.5 crore was seized from the OMC MD’s residence. The CBI reportedly also seized a helicopter named “Rukmini” that the Reddy brothers own.
A laptop and a dairy maintained by GJ Reddy were also seized besides a cache of documents. The CBI officials also questioned Gali’s wife Aruna Lakshmi, a director on some of the entities floated by the Reddy brothers. Even as the searches were on in Bellary in Karnataka, Gali and Srinivas Reddy were shifted to Hyderabad. Srinivas Reddy has been named prime accused in illegal mining by the CBI, Gali is ‘accused No 2’.
The two were brought to Hyderabad and were produced in court in the post-lunch session. The court has remanded them in judicial custody till September 19. The accused have also been allowed to file a counter on September 7.
According to CBI officials, a case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs50 and above), 447 (criminal trespass) and 379 (theft) in addition to theSection 26 of the Indian Forest Act 1927, Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 23 of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act of 1957. According to sources, a letter has been sent to banks in Bellary where both the Reddys hold accounts to stop transactions.
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