Gali Janardhana Reddy moves HC for bail, suspension of CBI court’s conviction in illegal mining case

Hyderabad: Former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhana Reddy who was imprisoned by a CBI court on charges of illegal iron ore mining has moved Telangana High Court urging it grant bail by suspending the lower court’s judgment.

The Special CBI court here on May 6 sentenced Reddy and others to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each after they were proved guilty of illegal mining between 2007 and 2009 causing Rs 884 crore loss to the exchequer.

Reddy filed the petition in the HC on Monday.

Janardhana Reddy was named accused number two in the case. The CBI court had also convicted Janardhan Reddy's brother-in-law and Managing Director of Obulapuram Mining Company Srinivasa Reddy and VD Rajagopal, the then Director of Mines and Geology, Mehafuz Ali Khan Gali’s personal assistant.

The CBI court delivered the judgement 14 years after the CBI had filed a charge sheet against Reddy and others accusing them of tampering with mining lease boundary markings and carrying out mining illegally in Bellary Reserve Forest area on the Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh border.