Former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and three others convicted in Obulapuram Mining Company illegal mining case after 14 years. A CBI court sentenced them to 7 years imprisonment and imposed a fine.
Karnataka: Former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and three others have been convicted in the illegal mining case involving the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC). A special CBI court on Tuesday sentenced them to 7 years imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on each.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹1,00,000 on the OMC company. This verdict comes after nearly 14 years, following allegations that Janardhan Reddy and others manipulated mining lease boundaries and carried out illegal mining in the Bellary Reserve Forest area on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.
CBI arrests Reddy and others
Following the CBI court's verdict, Reddy and the other accused were taken into custody. The CBI, in its charge sheet, alleged that these individuals manipulated mining leases and engaged in large-scale illegal mining, causing significant losses to the state government.
Sentences and acquittals
Those convicted in this case include Gali Janardhan Reddy, his brother-in-law Srinivas Reddy (OMC's Managing Director), V.D. Rajagopal (then Assistant Director of Mines and Geology), and Mahfuz Ali Khan (Reddy's personal assistant). However, the court acquitted former minister Sabitha Indra Reddy and former bureaucrat B. Kripalnandam.
Illegal mining caused significant losses to the state exchequer
The prosecution claims that this illegal mining, which took place between 2007 and 2009, caused a loss of ₹884 crore to the state exchequer. The CBI filed the first charge sheet in this case in 2011 and subsequently filed three supplementary charge sheets.
Meanwhile, the Telangana High Court had acquitted Y. Sreelakshmi, a senior IAS officer, from the case in November 2022.
