Ex-Karnataka minister Janardhan Reddy jailed for 7 years in mining case

A special CBI court here on Tuesday convicted former Karnataka minister and MLA Gali Janardhan Reddy and three others in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal mining case.

The court sentenced them to seven years' imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each. Reddy was named accused number two. The court imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on the company.

Soon after the judgment the CBI took Reddy and others into custody.

The CBI court delivered the judgement nearly 14 years after the CBI had filed a charge sheet against Reddy and others accusing them of tampering with mining lease boundary markings and carrying out mining illegally in Bellary Reserve Forest area on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.

The Principal Special Judge for CBI cases Judge T Raghu Ram acquitted ex-minister Sabitha Indra Reddy and former bureaucrat B Krupanandam in the case.

The court convicted Janardhan Reddy's brother-in-law and Managing Director of OMC, Srinivas Reddy (A1) and VD Rajagopal (A3), the then Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, Mehafuz Ali Khan (A7), Reddy's personal assistant.

The prosecution accused that the illegal mining between 2007 and 2009 caused Rs 884 crore loss to the exchequer.

The CBI had on December 3, 2011 filed the first charge sheet and subsequently three supplementary chargesheets in the case against Reddy, who is also director of the mining company, Srinivas Reddy, Rajagopal, late R Linga Reddy and the OMC (A4).

Senior IAS officer Y Srilakshmi was discharged from the case by the Telangana High Court in November 2022.

CBI Public Prosecutor Inderjeet Santoshi and Assistant Public Prosecutor Vishnu Majji argued the case on behalf of the investigating agency.