There is no respite for jailed mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy and his associate and former Karnataka health minister B. Sreeramulu with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths swooping down on their close associates on Sunday morning as they continued their search for evidence in the ongoing investigation into the illegal mining conducted by the Reddy-owned Obulapuram Mining Company(OMC).
Ironically, the raids happened when a homa (sacred ritual) was on at around 7 am at the residence of former minister and mine baron Karunakar Reddy — brother of Janardhan — to ward off “evil”. As many as 20 CBI officials from Hyderabad and Bengaluru, led by superintendent of police Venkateshalu and A.V. Ramanarao, raided the residences of Bhaskar Reddy, Gurulinganagouda, Gonal Rajashekhargouda and the office of Pragathi Grameena Bank. Highly placed sources said no valuables or documents were seized but the officials did verify some documents and even got them videographed.
Gurulinganagouda is the chairman of Bellary Urban Development Authority while Gonal Rajashekhargouda is a zila panchayat member, Both are loyalists of former minister B. Sreeramulu and were allegedly involved in the sudden shifting of valuables and wealth from Kuteeram, residence of Janardhan Reddy before he was arrested last Monday, sources said. Hours before he was taken into custody by the CBI, Janardhan Reddy had reportedly alerted Mr Sreeramulu at around 11.30 pm on Sunday night of his imminent arrest and moved a big portion of his property, money and documents to safety.
Sources said Mr Sreeramulu later handed over these valuables and papers to Gurulinganagouda and Gonal Rajashekhargouda.
Bhaskar Reddy, who was also raided on Sunday, is not a politician but a longtime associate of Janardhan Reddy. He had helped arrange Janardhan’s marriage with Lakshmi Aruna and had helped the mining baron when his chit fund business failed, sources said. After searching his residence, CBI sleuths took his wife to the Gandhi Nagar branch of Pragathi Grameena Bank where they opened bank lockers and verified accounts.
***
BJP has never led campaign against graft
Venkatesh Kesari
New Delhi, Sept. 11
The BJP’s attempt to hijack Mr Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption plank is similar to that of it hijacking the Ram Mandir issue from the VHP. The saffron party, at its meeting at Palampur over two decades ago, had taken up the mandir issue for political mileage. A section of the Parivar still blames the BJP for “politicising” this issue, saying that many political parties, including the Congress, would have supported a mandir if the BJP had not politicised it.
The BJP has no history of leading a campaign against corruption. The Congress would have found it difficult to tackle the movement of non-political organisations. But the BJP’s attempt to lead such a movement has added many colours. According to reports, some Team Anna members, especially Arvind Kejriwal and Santosh Hegde, are uncomfortable with Mr Advani’s announcement.