JOIN USED attaches Reddy's assets worth Rs 884 cr
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Bangalore zonal unit, on Wednesday attached shares and assets valued at Rs 884 crore of the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
OMC is owned by former Karnataka minister and jailed mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy.
The proceedings under PMLA were initiated by the ED, pursuant to a first information report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Anti-Corruption Branch, Hyderabad, for offences alleged to have been committed under certain provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Forests Act, 1927, the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Subash Agarwal, Joint Director, ED, Bangalore, said, “Our investigations revealed that OMC had illegally mined iron ore valued at Rs 884.13 crore for three years from 2007-2010. The amount had been invested in Brahmani Industries Ltd by OMC.”
Brahmani’s shares of Rs 10 each, worth Rs 884 crore, held by OMC, were provisionally attached and its directors have been instructed not to dispose them of or sell the assets, including the plant, machinery, land and equipment.
Steel plant
Brahmani was promoted by Obulapuram Mining Company to build a 1.7-million-tonne per annum steel plant in Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh.
The CBI also filed a charge sheet against Janardhan Reddy and others in December last year in its special court under various Sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The charge sheet has indicted many persons, including those associated with OMC.
Reddy has been in jail since September 2011 for illegally mining iron ore in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Bail denied
The High Court Circuit Bench in Dharwad on Wednesday denied bail to Janardhana Reddy.
Reddy had applied for bail at the Principal Bench of the High Court in Bangalore in a case related to illegal mining carried out by his Associated Mining Company (AMC).
Based on rotation, the Bench headed by Justice H N Nagmohan Das, who was at the Circuit Bench on Wednesday, denied bail to Reddy and dismissed his application.