Ex-BJP minister Janardhana Reddy out of jail on bail

Karnataka's former BJP minister and mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy walked out of the central jail here Friday after three years and four months on conditional bail.

The Supreme Court granted Reddy conditional bail Tuesday in graft cases related to the multi-crore mining scam in Andhra Pradesh and his home state.

"Reddy was freed from the jail after his lawyers produced the CBI court order and furnished two sureties of Rs.10 lakh each, as stipulated by the apex court for his conditional bail," a jail official told reporters later.

On stepping out of the prison gate at Parpanna Agrahara in the city's southern suburb, Reddy was greeted by his wife, children, relatives, including younger brother G. Somashekar Reddy, while hundreds of his supporters cheered him lustily.

Before leaving the prison, Reddy collected his personal belongings that were kept in one of the jail lockers.

Reddy's family drove him in a Mercedes Benz to his posh apartment in an upscale suburb in the city's centre.

Earlier, police imposed a ban on the assembly of more than five people 500 metres around the prison and deployed additional forces to maintain law and order.

"We have promulgated prohibitory order under section 144 of the criminal procedure code (CrPC) around the jail in light of intelligence reports of possible disturbance and damage to public property in the vicinity by Reddy's frenzied supporters from his home town," additional police commissioner Alok Kumar told reporters.

A three-judge bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, granted bail to Reddy after the CBI submitted that the probe into the illegal mining cases was completed and chargesheets were filed in its courts in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

The bench, also comprising Justices A. K. Sikri and Arun Mishra, ordered Reddy not to leave the country without its permission and directed him to surrender his passport.

He has also been warned against influencing witnesses or tampering with evidence in the multiple cases.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the tainted baron Sep 5, 2011 from his house at Bellary in the state's mineral-rich northern district along with his brother-in-law and his Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) managing director B.V. Srinivasa Reddy and drove them to Hyderabad central jail in neighbouring Telangana.

In the main case, Reddy's company (OMC) was accused of altering mining lease boundary markings and indulging in illegal mining in the Bellary reserve forest, spanning the border districts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, about 300km from here.