Telangana HC stays conviction of Gali Janardhan Reddy & others in illegal mining case
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Telangana HC stays conviction of Gali Janardhan Reddy & others in illegal mining case
Former Karnataka minister and BJP MLA Gali Janardhan Reddy granted bail. The high court also granted bail to three others in the 2009 Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal iron ore mining case. The order was passed by Justice K Lakshman who was hearing a batch of criminal appeals filed by all four who were convicted by a CBI court. The HC has asked Reddy to furnish two personal bonds worth 10 lakh each as a bail condition. Reddy and others were also restricted from travelling abroad as a bailed condition. On May 6, a special CBI court in Hyderabad convicted all four and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for seven years.
Along with Reddy, the high court also granted bail to three others – Janardhan Reddy’s brother-in-law and managing director of OMC, BV Srinivas Reddy, the then Director of Mines and Geology of Andhra Pradesh VD Rajagopal and Janardhan Reddy’s assistant Mehfuz Ali Khan.
The order was passed by Justice K Lakshman who was hearing a batch of criminal appeals filed by all four who were convicted by a CBI court. The HC has asked Reddy to furnish two personal bonds worth 10 lakh each as a bail condition. Reddy and others were also restricted from travelling abroad as a bail condition.
Story continues below this ad
On May 6, a special CBI court in Hyderabad convicted all four and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for seven years for having excavated iron ore illegally from Bellary and surrounding areas. The former minister and the other three had approached the Telangana High Court pleading for suspension of their sentences and for granting them bail.
After the CBI court’s conviction, Janardhan Reddy, who was elected as BJP MLA from Gangawati constituency in Karnataka in the 2023 assembly polls, was disqualified from the Legislative Assembly.
The CBI probe into the illegal mining between 2008-2011, conducted on Supreme Court directions, found that a mining mafia allegedly run by Reddy and his associates excavated iron ore illegally from Bellary and surrounding areas and sold it to traders, who transported it to ports and exported it without forest clearances and taxes.
The CBI registered its case in December 2009. In its chargesheet, the CBI accused Reddy and others of carrying out illegal mining in Bellary reserve forest area by removing boundary markings. The chargesheet had alleged that the accused were indulged in criminal conspiracy and committed the offence of illegal mining of iron ore “by criminally trespassing into the government lands and lands of other private persons”.
Story continues below this ad
Although he was first taken into CBI custody in 2011, he was rearrested in 2015 by a Special Investigation Team constituted by the Karnataka Lokayukta in the mining case.
According to Reddy’s affidavit for the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls, Reddy has 20 pending criminal cases against him. Nine of these are being prosecuted by the CBI, of which eight are still in the trial stage.
Soon after his conviction in May, a special court for cases involving elected representatives in Karnataka ordered Reddy’s detention in the Bengaluru central prison to facilitate trial in five CBI cases of illegal mining.