JOIN USThe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) early Saturday morning arrested Bellary mining scam accused Kharadapudi Mahesh who had managed to evade the agency on Thursday.
Confirming the arrest, sources in the CBI said that the agency would produce Mahesh before a magistrate and seek his custody.
His associate Swastik Nagaraj has already been taken into custody. “He is being interrogated about his role in the illegal transport of thousands of tonnes of iron ore from Bellary to the Belekeri port,” the sources said.
During their two-year association, they collected protection money (referred to as ‘Bellary Risk’) from those transporting illicit ore. Mahesh and Nagaraj are said to have earned at least Rs 35 crore each.
On Thursday, the CBI officers conducted searches at the residence of Mahesh, a close aide of former minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, in connection with its on-going probe into illegal iron ore export from Belekeri port in Uttara Kannada district.
The team led by CBI Superintendent of Police Subramanyeshwara Rao, sources said, had found documents pertaining to the transport of iron ore and also details of a stockyard owned by Mahesh during the search.
The CBI has issued notice to Iddali Eriswamy, an aide of Mahesh, asking him to appear for questioning at its office in Bangalore. He has gone missing from Thursday.
A team of the probe agency has been camping in the city since Thursday. It has been inspecting documents in the houses of Mahesh.