The CBI seized Rolls Royce, Range Rover, Land Rover, Audi, Mercedes Benz, BMW and more than a dozen Scorpios and Bolero jeeps parked in the premises of mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy’s home office home-office Kuteeram.
The investigation agency also conducted searches at Parijatha Apartments, the residence of Janardhan Reddy in Bengaluru.
In Hyderabad, the CBI court for special cases remanded the duo to 15-day judicial custody minutes before the close of court timings. The special judge, Mr B. Naga Maruthi Sharma, posted the case to September 7.
Mentioning the seizures, the CBI deputy legal adviser, Mr B. Ravindranath, submitted to the court that the agency required custody to prevent them from tampering with evidence, and to probe Janardhan Reddy’s assets put at Rs 20,000 crore.
They were lodged at the Chanchalguda Central Jail later in the evening. Asked about more arrests in the case, Mr Lakshmi Narayana said the agency would think about it after gathering more evidence.
The arrests come nearly 21 months after the CBI, Hyderabad registered a case against the company on December 7, 2009 under various sections of IPC, the Prevention of Corruption Act, Indian Forest Act, Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act with regard to the alleged illegal mining.
According to a statement released by the CBI on Monday, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on December 14, 2009, granted an interim stay stalling the investigation and the orders were made absolute on June 14, 2010.
Following a writ appeal by CBI, a division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered CBI to limit itself to the illegal mining by the firms.
The High Court directed the CBI not to probe into the boundary disputes till the same were decided by the Committee constituted following the orders of the Supreme Court.
After the stay was vacated, CBI at Hyderabad began investigation of the case and so far collected about 1,530 documents and 112 iron ore samples and examined around 85 witnesses/ suspects.
CBI raids Gali’s brother-in-law too
The arrest of Karnataka’s former minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy by the CBI on Monday created a furore in Srikalahasti town, 40 km from here.
According to sources, CBI officials raided the Madras Road residence of retired teacher and brother-in-law of Janardhan Reddy, Mr Sudhakar Reddy, early on Monday morning but found no one there.
Janardhan Reddy, whose family had migrated to Bellary after the separation of the area from AP, had always maintained close links with Srikalahasti.
The youngest in the family of three brothers and one sister, Janardhan Reddy was born at MD Puttur village of Yerpedu mandal in the district.
His father Changa Reddy worked as head-constable in Chittatur village near Srikalahasti. His mother was also from the same village.
Mr Janardhan Reddy began his career with chit funds and real estate in Hospet and Bellary in his early 20s.
Though the Reddy brothers moved to Karnataka, their sister was married to Mr Sudhakar Reddy of Chittatur village.
About five years back, Mr Sudhakar Reddy took voluntary retirement and settled in Srikalahasti.
Locals say that Janardhan Reddy had built a palace-like residence for his sister in Srikalahasti, which was outside the municipality limits.
They said that Reddy would visit his sister often and locals of Srikalahasti had become familiar with the sights of Janardhan Reddy’s helicopter flying in.
Recently, Mr Sudhakar Reddy’s daughter was married to the son of an IAS officer and sources said that Janardhan Reddy apparently spent Rs 10 crore on the marriage in Bengaluru. The wedding had become the talk of the town at that time.
Interestingly, close friends of Mr Sudhakar Reddy maintain that they were never allowed to enter his house.
“He would entertain us in the compound. During the last two years, he completely stopped responding to our calls.”
The retired teacher, however, preferred to ride his old Hero Honda CD 100 motorbike when he visited Srikalahasti, despite having a costly four-wheeler at his disposal.
Sources said that a couple of youth leaders in Srikalahasti, who were close to Janardhan Reddy, had approached a popular local swamiji of Anjimedu village in Yerpedu mandal last year and had asked him if Janardhan Reddy had any chances of becoming Karnataka’s chief minister.
Surprisingly, the swamiji apparently told them that Mr Reddy would face arrest and his political career would be in the doldrums within a year.
Quote unquote
The CBI stands for Chor Bachao Institution and Congress Bureau of Investigation - Sreeramulu, former minister
They (OMC) may deny that they have indulged in illegal mining. We have said they did through documents we produced - Santosh Hegde, former Karnataka Lokayukta
The Centre was in the habit of harassing non-Congress governments and the arrest of Reddy was a pre-planned exercise - Sadananda Gowda, Karnataka CM
BJP has no faith in CBI investigations. AP government has ordered the CBI probe and Karnataka has no connection with it - B.S. Yeddyurappa, former Karnataka CM
Naidu: Jagan has links with Gali
While the arrest of Mr Gali Janardhan Reddy has been welcomed by the Telugu Desam MPs and MLAs, who are advocating tough action including seizure of his and his accomplices’ properties, the TD president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, has alleged that the YSR Congress leader, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, has links with the incarcerated mining baron.
“Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy is involved with Gali Janardhan Reddy in the illegal mining business,” alleged Mr Naidu. He further said that TD has fought a relentless battle against illegal mining and blamed the Congress-ruled Centre and state governments for inaction.
“All those who have done wrong will have to face punishment. We have exposed illegal mining time and again. We welcome the arrest of Gali Janardhan Reddy,” he added.
The TD MP, Mr Nama Nageswara Rao, has urged the Centre and the state governments to immediately seize the properties of Janardhan Reddy and his accomplices.
“Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy too is associated with the mining mafia and he too should be punished,” the MP said.
“While the government has no money for the poor, the Gali brothers, who earned Rs 5 crore per day, have looted the state with the tacit support of the ruling party,” said the TD MLA, Mr P. Keshav.
“This is the first victory against the mining mafia. The government should extend all support to CBI,” he added.