JOIN USReddy PA's laptop opens can of mining, political worms
The investigating agency now claims to have unearthed solid evidence from the laptop computer of Janardhana Reddy’s personal assistant K Mehfuz Ali Khan (28). After examining the hard disk, CBI sleuths were able to extract details on illegal mining involving 60 lakh tonnes of iron ore. After learning that Khan fled to Dubai when a series of arrests began, the CBI put out a look out bulletin against him and alerted all international airports in the country.
What has startled CBI officials is a corpus of details on Reddy’s political manoeuvrings and other tactics he adopted when Yeddyurappa was faced with a mini revolt within the BJP earlier this year. The laptop also contains details on how money was handled and election arrangements made during the Bellary bye-poll contested by senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. There are files in the laptop which indicate that large sums of money was given to senior leaders in the central BJP for fighting the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
These nuggets of information will not be incorporated in the CBI’s chargesheet against Janardhana Reddy either in Bangalore or here. Agency sleuths are understood to have prepared a separate lengthy report that contains politically sensitive information which will be submitted to the Union Home Ministry, sources said.
A file retrieved from the laptop’s hard disk has revealed that iron ore extracted from two mines in Karnataka were shown to have been mined in the area over which Reddy’s Obalapuram Mining Company holds the lease and was to be transported to Krishnapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh. According to CBI sources, this particular file and other similar evidence throw light on the OMC’s illegal mining operations.
The invoices and reports of OMC show that he would export high grade iron ore, but field studies show that the area over which Reddy’s company operated contained low-grade ore. Besides, OMC indiscriminately extracted iron ore in the reserved forests and on land that was held by 15 other mine owners who would be offered 25 per cent of the proceeds of the trade in illegal mining. Reddy’s mining empire flourished because of his clout as a minister in Yeddyurappa’s cabinet.
CBI officials said Khan, an engineer by profession, had obtained an Indian passport on May 13, 2010, and was an important link in the mining mafia operations. As Janardhana Reddy’s frontman, Khan, floated two shell companies, Devi Enterprises and R K Mining, which were deeply involved in the mining racket.
The bogus companies applied for contracts for mines in Karnataka and a few other states, including Andhra Pradesh. Khan was the managing director of Devi Enterprises whose accounts he maintained besides handling a host of other illegal operations for Janardhana Reddy for five years.
Apart from the mining operations on the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border, Khan’s laptop has exposed the mining mafia’s reach in Karwar and Kalahalli mines. The details culled from the machine’s hard disk indicate that OMC shipped out iron ore from Karwar port. Reddy’s company also exported iron ore extracted from the Kalahalli mines, about 80 km from Bellary and 8 km from Hospet.
The CBI is examining at least 10 more hard disks that were seized from the houses of Janardhana Reddy, his personal assistant and chartered accountant.
DH News Service