THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
Hyderabad, May 6: 14 years after the CBI filed its initial charges, a special CBI court on Tuesday sentenced former Karnataka minister and sitting MLA Gali Janardhan Reddy to seven years in prison for his involvement in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal mining case.
Alongside the jail term, the court imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on each of the four convicted individuals, including Reddy, who was listed as accused number two. The OMC itself was fined ₹1 lakh.
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The long-drawn case relates to illegal mining operations in the Bellary Reserve Forest area, spanning the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border, between 2007 and 2009. According to the prosecution, the activities led to a massive loss of ₹884 crore to the exchequer.
The CBI had first filed a charge sheet in December 2011, followed by three supplementary ones, naming Reddy and several others, including his brother-in-law and OMC Managing Director Srinivas Reddy (A1), former Assistant Director of Mines and Geology VD Rajagopal (A3), and Reddy’s personal assistant Mehafuz Ali Khan (A7), who were all convicted.
Principal Special Judge for CBI Cases T Raghu Ram acquitted former Andhra Pradesh minister Sabitha Indra Reddy and ex-bureaucrat B Krupanandam due to lack of evidence. Senior IAS officer Y Srilakshmi had earlier been discharged from the case by the Telangana High Court in 2022.
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Soon after the verdict, the CBI took the convicted individuals into custody. CBI Public Prosecutor Inderjeet Santoshi and Assistant Public Prosecutor Vishnu Majji represented the agency in court throughout the trial.
