AP ports with Gali link under CBI lens

Agency team visits Krishnapatnam for probe

A team of officers from the country’s premier investigative agency, led by Joint Director V V Lakshminarayana on Thursday reached Nellore district and began their inquiries at the Krishnapatnam port, from where Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) owned by Janardhana Reddy routed most of its iron ore exports.

The team also searched the local Customs office to extract details of exports by Gali’s mining firms through the private port.

"Even though Iron ore was exported from various ports in Andhra Pradesh, the major chunk was from Krishnapatnam port. We want to know how much was exported from here and what procedures the port authorities followed," Lakshminarayana told mediapersons in Nellore. Indicating that investigations have reached a crucial stage, Lakshminarayana added: “We have to soon file the charge sheet.” The authorities of Krishnapatnam port submitted some documents to the CBI team which also secured some incriminating documents.

The Karnataka Lokayukta report has said that of the 3,31,04,866 tons of iron ore exported through seven ports since 2006-07, 1,11,70,994 tonnes of iron ore has been exported from Krishnapatnam Port alone - 25 lakh tonnes in 2008-09, 51 lakh tonnes in 2009-10 and 25.68 lakh tonnes till July 2010. Another 17.55 lakh MT iron ore was exported through the Kakinada Anchorage Port run by the Andhra Pradesh government, and Kakinada Deep Water Port run by Kakinada Sea Ports Limited.

For almost three years, trucks and rake loads of  iron ore made their way out of Bellary to mostly to the nearby Krishnapatnam Port, and far away Kakinada and Visakhapatnam ports via Anantapur and Kadapa. The CBI arrested Janardhana Reddy and his brother-in-law Srinivas Reddy from Bellary in Karnataka on September 5 in connection with unlawful mining in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district bordering Karnataka.

The investigation was ordered by the AP government in 2009.