Gold the fave in Gali Baba's cave

Crown is for keeps

The wealth belongs to neither a kingdom nor a rich te­mple, but is part of the sei­zu­res made by the CBI from the homes of mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy in Bellary, Bangalore and other locati­ons. The former Karnataka minister and BJP strongman who was arrested by CBI on Monday for illegal mining, is cooling his heels in an undertrial jail in Hyderabad.

“All these are just samples,” say the sources in the CBI, indicating that they form only the tip of a goldberg. The investigation agency has deplo­yed men to guard the valuab­les in safe custody before they are transported to CBI offices in Hyderabad where the case of illegal mining by the OMC is heard in a trial court.

Sources in the Reddy family and the CBI say that next to la­nd, gold was favourite investme­nt option for the mining baron who bought vast quantities of the precious metal. ‘I am sure the lockers of Reddy family in all the banks (they have lockers in six nationalised banks) would yield large a number of gold bricks, CBI officers say.

The CBI teams raiding the Reddy residence in Bellary were shocked into silence by the bright shine of the metal in the Puja room of Gali’s Bellary bungalow spread over three acres. A one-foot tall idol of Lord Venkateswara and another six-inch tall idol of Padmavati, both made of solid gold dominated the 100ft x 50ft puja room which contained gold idols of other deities too. The traditional hand bell in the puja room alone weighed a kg, they say.

The CBI sources say that they had seized about 45 necklaces, 610 gold bangles (35 of them diamond encrusted), nearly 300 earrings (75 of them diamond studded) and about 1,200 gold rings (about 100 of them with diamonds). Various other gold, diamond and some platinum trinkets used mostly during special events - family get together and rituals were also listed by the agency.

CBI  officials contend that Janardhana Reddy’s sister Rajeswari and her husband Sudhakar Reddy, who also held a sizeable portion of the illegal assets of  the BJP leader were absconding ever since the CBI raids. Sudhakar Reddy  worked as a school teacher in Srikalahasti town where the mining baron had built a house with a swimming pool for his sister.

CBI sources said the assessment of the properties including gold seized at Bangalore and two other locations (their ancestral home in Pottur and also Chennai) was not complete. “We will disclose the lists in our charge sheet which we will file in the designated court soon,” said a senior CBI official.

Meanwhile, the diamond-studded gold crown worth Rs 45 crore offered by Gali to the shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala two years ago would not be returned to him, the temple trust said.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Executive Officer L V Subramanyam said devotees' offerings were not returned “under any circumstance”. However, TTD would not hesitate to furnish particulars about the offering to any government agency, he said.

A day after Reddy’s arrest, devotees staged a protest in the temple town of Tirupati, demanding return of the crown to Gali and that it should not be part of the deity’s possessions.