Janardhan Reddy's bail plea rejected

A special CBI court here today rejected the bail petitions of former Karnataka minister and mining baron Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law B Srinivas Reddy in the illegal mining case.

The court sent the two in CBI custody till September 19.

Judge B Naga Maruthi Sarma directed the Chanchalguda Jail authorities to hand over Janardhana Reddy and Srinivas Reddy to the CBI immediately for further questioning in the illegal mining case.

The CBI originally sought custody of the two for 15 days, saying their custodial interrogation was crucial as they had personal knowledge of illegal mining of iron ore in mining area across Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Besides, they could provide information on the conspiracy with government officials allegedly involved in the racket.

The CBI had registered the case against Reddy's Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) on December 7, 2009 at the request of Andhra Pradesh government in the wake of allegations of illegal mining and irregularities in allotment of mining leases to OMC in Obulapuram and Malpanagudi villages of Anantapur district of the state.

Janardhan Reddy and OMC Managing Director Srinivas Reddy were arrested by a CBI team on September 5 at Bellary in Karnataka after the agency conducting searches at their premises in connection with alleged illegal mining.