The CBI officials sprang a surprise when they arrested former tourism minister G. Janardhan Reddy from his house in Bellary in the early hours of Monday without even the knowledge of the state police chief — DG & IGP Achuta Rao. The entire operation, headed by CBI joint director V.V. Lakshmi Narayana, was kept highly-confidential so much so that they informed Bellary superintendent of police Chandra Gupta few minutes before the high-profile arrest, and that too, purely for reasons of protocol.
It is reliably learnt that six officials of the 16-member team had checked into a small time hotel late night in Bellary under fictitious names to escape identification. The main team led by Mr Lakshmi Narayana left Hyderabad for Bellary on Sunday night in local cabs and headed straight towards the residence of Mr B.V. Srinivas Reddy, MD, Obulapuram Mining Company and brother-in-law of Mr Janardhan Reddy in Shreenagar in Avambhavi locality, where they arrested him around 5.30 am.
The CBI team then rushed to the former tourism minister’s spraw-ling mansion, which was nearby and took him into custody. The entire operation lasted less than 15 minutes after which, Mr Lakshmi Narayana left for Hyderabad with the duo, where they were later produced before the local magistrate.
It is reliably learnt that the CBI had planned to arrest Mr Janardhan Reddy from his Race Course Cross Road apartment, “Parijat”, in Bengaluru but since they were told that he may not be coming to the City; they headed straight to Bellary.
Barring one senior officer, the CBI did not divulge the information to any police officer in Karnataka. Mr Achuta Rao was “informed” soon after the arrest, which was deliberately kept for early morning to avoid media attention. The CBI did not even request for logistic support from the local police fearing a leak, that would tip off Mr Reddy. Around a dozen CBI officials later search-ed Mr Reddy’s apartment in “Parijat”, where they seized several incriminating documents.
“They conducted a thorough search and looked at all possible places, including the folds of curtains, the upholstery and opened everything, which was locked,” said an official source.