Illegal mining: MLA remanded to judicial custody till Sep 27

The CBI Special Court today sent BSR Congress MLA Suresh Babu to judicial custody till September 27 in a case relating to alleged illegal export of iron ore from Belikeri port in Karnataka.

Babu, a nephew of B Sreeramulu, former minister and close associate of mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, was arrested by the CBI yesterday after questioning and produced before the court this morning.

The alleged scam was exposed by former Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde, who in his report, had said 7.74 million tonnes of iron ore were illegally exported between 2006-2007 and 2010-11, causing huge loss to the exchequer.

Babu is also named as an accused in the cash-for-bail scam in which a CBI judge was allegedly bribed for granting bail to Janardhana Reddy, prime accused in the Obulapuram Mining Company scam probed by the CBI, now lodged in Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad. P