No relief for mining baron Janardhan Reddy; bail plea rejected

HYDERABAD: A Special CBI Court today dismissed the bail plea of mining baron and former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, a key accused in the illegal mining case involving his Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC).

The Court dismissed the application on the ground that there was a chance of the accused influencing witnesses.

This is the seventh time that the bail petition of Janardhan Reddy has been rejected.

The mining baron had sought bail on the ground that investigations in the case had been completed and he was in jail for the past several months.

Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director of OMC, were arrested by CBI on September 5, 2011 from Bellary in adjoining Karnataka and brought to Hyderabad.

Janardhan Reddy and his Personal Assistant K Mehfuz Ali, also an accused in the case, are currently in CBI custody in Bangalore in connection with another illegal mining case.

Srinivas Reddy is lodged in Chanchalguda Jail here. Janardhan Reddy is also an accused in the cash-for-bail scam, where he is accused of trying to bribe a judge for bail.

In the OMC case, the company is accused of changing mining lease boundary markings and indulging in illegal mining in the Bellary Reserve Forest area, spread over Bellary in Karnataka and Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.