The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to mining baron and former Karnataka tourism minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, who is an accused in the illegal mining case involving his Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC). Reddy, who was granted bail earlier by different courts in other illegal mining cases, and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director of OMC, were arrested in September 2011 from Bellary in Karnataka and brought to Hyderabad.
Taking on record the submission of the CBI that the investigation in the case involving Reddy is complete and both the charge sheet as well as the supplementary charge sheet have been filed, a bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu said, “Since investigating agency has no objection in granting bail, we are granting bail to the petitioner (Reddy).”
While granting bail, the bench imposed certain conditions, including that Reddy will be released from jail on furnishing two sureties of Rs 10 lakh each, he shall not leave the country without the permission of the court, surrender his passport and in no way try to influence the witnesses or tamper with evidence.
It also noted the submission of Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh and Reddy’s counsel Dushyant Dave that he has been in jail for around four years.
Reddy had moved the apex court in 2013 challenging the High Court’s decision to reject his bail petition. 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 united Andhra Pradesh.
The mining baron and six others were charge sheeted in May 3013 by the CBI in Bengaluru in connection with alleged illegal mining of iron ore which caused a loss of Rs 198 crore to the exchequer.
In its charge sheet file before the Bangalore court, the agency had booked Reddy and others for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery. It had alleged that Reddy and others entered into a criminal conspiracy during 2009-10 to illegally excavate iron ore from various forest areas in Bellary district and surrounding areas and sell the ore to various traders and transport it to Belekeri port for the purpose of export, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 198 crore to the state exchequer and wrongful gain to themselves.
The CBI had initiated probe on the SC’s directions after the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had recommended an in-depth investigation into the mining and exports of the ore. The CEC had recommended that CBI must probe all aspects of the illegalities associated with excavation, transportation, sale and purchase, storage and disposal of about 3.4 million tonnes of iron ore exported from January 1, 2009 to May 31,2010.