Janardhana Reddy in jail

Law catches up: CBI nabs ex-minister for illegal mining; in custody for 14 days

The CBI also arrested Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director of Obulapuram Mining Company, and seized a separate cache of Rs 1.5 crore in cash. The CBI officers took Janardhana Reddy and Srinivas Reddy to Hyderabad by road before producing them at the CBI court at Nampally in the afternoon and secured their custody for two weeks. The two men will be lodged at the Chanchalguda jail which houses petty criminals.

Srinivas Reddy is managing director of OMC, while Janardhana and his elder brother, Karunakara are directors of the company against which CBI registered cases in 2009 for illegal mining in the forest area of Andhra Pradesh bordering Karnataka.

The investigating agency said Janardhana Reddy’s arrest might be a precursor to the arrest of Karunakara and close associate B Sriramulu, besides many others to aid the investigation.

As the implications of the CBI action dawned on the BJP, the State unit of the party offered support to the beleaguered Reddy.

Reacting to the arrests, Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said at  Haveri that the Centre was using the CBI as a tool to destabilise non-Congress governments.
Describing Janardhana Reddy’s arrest as politically motivated, Gowda said such incidents were detrimental to a democratic set-up. Gowda said he had immense faith in the judicial system and that Centre’s efforts would come to nought.

When asked whether he believed Reddy was guilty, Gowda said the mining baron would come out unscathed from the episode. Gowda also extended full support to the Reddys’ legal battle.

On a day that saw fortunes turn around in a matter of hours and close relatives turned strangers, Gali Janardhana Reddy was all alone when he stepped out of the CBI van and entered the cold confines of Hyderabad’s Chanchalguda jail which will be his shelter at least till September  19. There were no BJP workers protesting against his incarceration.

The law finally caught up with the country’s most controversial mining baron-politician three days after the second death anniversary of his benefactor in the Congress, Y S Rajashekhara Reddy.

As chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, YSR granted mining licences to the Reddy brothers, and his family partnered the Reddys in Brahmani Steels company which secured 10,670 acres at Kadapa for mining iron ore, but now, with the political fortunes of both Jagan and Janardhana Reddy in decline, has been sold.

The timing of the CBI’s move may give rise to speculation that it is tied to its investigations into the wealth amassed by Jaganmohan Reddy, son of YSR, on the orders of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The CBI has been looking into the close association between the Bellary Reddys and the YSR family.

Janardhana’s arrest is an indication that similar action against Jagan is on the anvil. Asked if the CBI will take action against other directors of the Bellary-based Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) owned by the Reddys , an agency source told Deccan Herald: “It will depend on the interrogation of those arrested and further investigation.”

The arrests are related to the case of illegal mining in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh and not in Karnataka, where action is yet to be initiated against the billionaire Reddy brothers.

For extending the CBI probe into illegal mining in Karnataka, the CBI official said the “state government has to ask for it, the agency cannot do it on its own.” Former Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde had earlier indicted Janardhana for his alleged role in the multi-crore mining scam in the state.

Earlier in the day, a team of CBI sleuths led by Joint Director V V Lakshminarayana raided the Bellary residence of Janardhana and virtually roused him from his sleep around 6:30 am before declaring that he was under arrest. This was followed by a raid on Srinivas Reddy’s residential premises. The agency claimed to have seized some important documents along with Rs 4.5 crore in cash and 30 kg of gold during the raids. However, the official refuted reports that suggested that a helicopter was seized in the raid.

The CBI raids in Bellary and Bangalore districts continued in the evening and yielded about 1,530 pages of documents, 112 iron ore Samples and examined around 85 witnesses/suspected.

In Bangalore, the CBI raided properties belonging to Janardhana, including his house off Race Course Road and sources said several documents, a laptop and a diary were seized. The CBI had trouble opening two of the rooms in Janardhana Reddy’s and they had to hire a locksmith to crack the locks.

It is learnt that the Income-Tax Department is seized of Monday’s developments and its officers will soon coordinate their action in a two-pronged investigation against the Bellary Reddys.