<p>Hyderabad: A special CBI court in Nampally, Hyderabad, has convicted former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and three others in the notorious Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal mining case. After a marathon 13-year trial, the court on Tuesday sentenced the accused to seven years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each convicted individual. The court also levied a Rs 1 lakh fine on the company. The CBI had named a total of nine individuals as accused across four chargesheets in the case, which was initially registered in 2009. Of these nine, five have been found guilty.</p> <p>The case involves illegal mining operations in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh and has seen extensive judicial scrutiny, with over 3,400 documents examined and 219 witnesses interrogated throughout the proceedings.</p>.‘Illegal auction of mines’: Central panel asks govt to address CEC red flags.<p>Those found guilty include Gali Janardhan Reddy (accused number two), OMC Managing Director BV Srinivasa Reddy (A1), former director of Andhra Pradesh mines department VD Rajagopal (A3), and Janardhan Reddy's personal assistant Mehfaz Ali Khan (A7). The court acquitted former mines minister and the current BRS MLA, Sabitha Indra Reddy and retired IAS officer B Krupanandam. Senior IAS officer Y Srilakshmi had been discharged from the case by the Telangana High Court in November 2022, while former assistant director of mines R Linga Reddy is deceased.</p> <p>Principal Special Judge for CBI cases, Judge T Raghu Ram, delivered the verdict. The CBI immediately took Janardhan Reddy and other convicted individuals into custody following the judgment. It is learnt that Janardhan Reddy's lawyers may approach Telangana High Court challenging the verdict by CBI court.</p> <p>The convictions fall under IPC Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 468 & 471 (forgery), and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.</p> <p>The investigation began in 2009 when the CBI started examining OMC's mining operations. Evidence revealed that during YS Rajasekhara Reddy's tenure as Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, authorities granted preferential treatment to Gali Janardhan Reddy's company. Iron ore mining leases covering 68.5 hectares and 39.5 hectares in Obulapuram, D Hirehal, and Rayadurgam Mandals were allegedly allocated through fraudulent means, while 23 other applicants were ignored.</p>.Supreme Court stays CBI probe into Rs 5,832 crore beach sand mining 'scam' in Tamil Nadu.<p>According to the CBI chargesheet, in 2007, officials recommended OMC's application under the false premise that it would support a 10-million-tonne steel plant, despite no provisions for captive mining. A government order was issued the same day, circumventing established regulations and allowing OMC to sell iron ore freely. The investigation concluded that Janardhan Reddy and his associates illegally extracted iron ore beyond their designated lease areas, including from protected forest lands in Karnataka, causing a loss of Rs 884.13 crore to the government treasury.</p> <p>The case dates back to 2009, when the CBI filed a charge sheet against Janardhan Reddy and others, accusing them of tampering with mining lease boundary markings and carrying out illegal mining in Bellary Reserve Forest area on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border. The CBI filed its first charge sheet on December 3, 2011, followed by three supplementary chargesheets.</p> <p>Following an investigation, a centrally empowered committee of the Supreme Court uncovered significant violations by OMC and declared the mining lease granted to the company run by Janardhana Reddy and his family by the YS Rajashekar Reddy government illegal. The investigation revealed that Gali Janardhan Reddy was allotted 10,760 acres of government land by the YSR government in 2007 for setting up a purported Rs 20,000-crore captive steel plant.</p> <p>As a remedy, the committee recommended suspending mining activities until boundary pillars were erected and boundary posts laid along the state border. Responding to these findings, the Congress government under K Rosaiah in Andhra Pradesh suspended mining operations by OMC and requested a CBI investigation in December 2009.</p> <p>The case faced numerous delays due to discharge petitions and appeals in the High Court, with the Supreme Court eventually monitoring the trial and setting a May 2025 deadline for completion. CBI Public Prosecutor Inderjeet Santoshi and Assistant Public Prosecutor Vishnu Majji argued the case on behalf of the investigating agency.</p> <p>After the verdict was delivered Sabitha Indra Reddy expressed gratitude towards the judiciary after a favorable outcome in her case. She mentioned that despite facing numerous humiliations and political attacks for 12 years, she remained steadfast.<br><br>Sabitha Indra Reddy believed that the cases against her were part of a larger political conspiracy to undermine her.</p>
<p>Hyderabad: A special CBI court in Nampally, Hyderabad, has convicted former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and three others in the notorious Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal mining case. After a marathon 13-year trial, the court on Tuesday sentenced the accused to seven years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each convicted individual. The court also levied a Rs 1 lakh fine on the company. The CBI had named a total of nine individuals as accused across four chargesheets in the case, which was initially registered in 2009. Of these nine, five have been found guilty.</p> <p>The case involves illegal mining operations in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh and has seen extensive judicial scrutiny, with over 3,400 documents examined and 219 witnesses interrogated throughout the proceedings.</p>.‘Illegal auction of mines’: Central panel asks govt to address CEC red flags.<p>Those found guilty include Gali Janardhan Reddy (accused number two), OMC Managing Director BV Srinivasa Reddy (A1), former director of Andhra Pradesh mines department VD Rajagopal (A3), and Janardhan Reddy's personal assistant Mehfaz Ali Khan (A7). The court acquitted former mines minister and the current BRS MLA, Sabitha Indra Reddy and retired IAS officer B Krupanandam. Senior IAS officer Y Srilakshmi had been discharged from the case by the Telangana High Court in November 2022, while former assistant director of mines R Linga Reddy is deceased.</p> <p>Principal Special Judge for CBI cases, Judge T Raghu Ram, delivered the verdict. The CBI immediately took Janardhan Reddy and other convicted individuals into custody following the judgment. It is learnt that Janardhan Reddy's lawyers may approach Telangana High Court challenging the verdict by CBI court.</p> <p>The convictions fall under IPC Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 468 & 471 (forgery), and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.</p> <p>The investigation began in 2009 when the CBI started examining OMC's mining operations. Evidence revealed that during YS Rajasekhara Reddy's tenure as Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, authorities granted preferential treatment to Gali Janardhan Reddy's company. Iron ore mining leases covering 68.5 hectares and 39.5 hectares in Obulapuram, D Hirehal, and Rayadurgam Mandals were allegedly allocated through fraudulent means, while 23 other applicants were ignored.</p>.Supreme Court stays CBI probe into Rs 5,832 crore beach sand mining 'scam' in Tamil Nadu.<p>According to the CBI chargesheet, in 2007, officials recommended OMC's application under the false premise that it would support a 10-million-tonne steel plant, despite no provisions for captive mining. A government order was issued the same day, circumventing established regulations and allowing OMC to sell iron ore freely. The investigation concluded that Janardhan Reddy and his associates illegally extracted iron ore beyond their designated lease areas, including from protected forest lands in Karnataka, causing a loss of Rs 884.13 crore to the government treasury.</p> <p>The case dates back to 2009, when the CBI filed a charge sheet against Janardhan Reddy and others, accusing them of tampering with mining lease boundary markings and carrying out illegal mining in Bellary Reserve Forest area on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border. The CBI filed its first charge sheet on December 3, 2011, followed by three supplementary chargesheets.</p> <p>Following an investigation, a centrally empowered committee of the Supreme Court uncovered significant violations by OMC and declared the mining lease granted to the company run by Janardhana Reddy and his family by the YS Rajashekar Reddy government illegal. The investigation revealed that Gali Janardhan Reddy was allotted 10,760 acres of government land by the YSR government in 2007 for setting up a purported Rs 20,000-crore captive steel plant.</p> <p>As a remedy, the committee recommended suspending mining activities until boundary pillars were erected and boundary posts laid along the state border. Responding to these findings, the Congress government under K Rosaiah in Andhra Pradesh suspended mining operations by OMC and requested a CBI investigation in December 2009.</p> <p>The case faced numerous delays due to discharge petitions and appeals in the High Court, with the Supreme Court eventually monitoring the trial and setting a May 2025 deadline for completion. CBI Public Prosecutor Inderjeet Santoshi and Assistant Public Prosecutor Vishnu Majji argued the case on behalf of the investigating agency.</p> <p>After the verdict was delivered Sabitha Indra Reddy expressed gratitude towards the judiciary after a favorable outcome in her case. She mentioned that despite facing numerous humiliations and political attacks for 12 years, she remained steadfast.<br><br>Sabitha Indra Reddy believed that the cases against her were part of a larger political conspiracy to undermine her.</p>