Mining case: Supplementary chargesheet filed against Sabitha

The CBI today filed supplementary chargesheet against former Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy and former IAS officer and Secretary of Mines, B Kripanandam in the alleged illegal mining involving jailed former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy-owned Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC).
Kripanandam was named as A-8 while Sabitha was named A-9 in the case. They were charged with offences of criminal conspiracy under relevant sections of IPC besides under provisions of PC Act by the CBI in the chargesheet filed in a special CBI court here.
In the chargesheet, (the final in a series of chargesheets earlier filed in the case), the central agency charged Sabitha and Kripanandam of sanctioning proposal of mining lease by giving preferential treatment to OMC while rejecting applications of others.

The CBI also informed the court that this supplementary chargesheet can be treated as final report as part of investigation into the case except for the matter of inter-state boundary dispute which is pending in the Supreme Court.
The supplementary chargesheet cites 104 documents and 36 witnesses.
"Their role (Sabitha and Kripanandam) in the case has been established and hence we are filing this supplementary chargesheet," a CBI counsel told the court adding they also filed a petition seeking to delete Sabitha's name as an witness in the case.

The central agency had earlier named mining baron Janardhan Reddy, his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy (both arrested on September 5, 2011 from Bellary and presently in jail) and three others including the mining firm in its first chargesheet filed in December 2011 in the illegal iron ore mining scam that spans across Andhra Pradesh, having its origin in Karnataka.

It later added the name of another accused IAS officer Y Srilakshmi, and a supplementary chargesheet was filed against her in March 2012.
The CBI, in January 2013 filed another supplementary chargesheet against K Mehfuz Ali Khan, the personal assistant of Janardhan Reddy and the seventh accused in the OMC case.