Former Karnataka Minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy has approached the Telangana High Court seeking bail and suspension of his conviction after a CBI court sentenced him to seven years of rigorous imprisonment in connection with a high-profile illegal mining case.
Reddy filed the petition before the High Court on Monday, urging a stay on the lower court’s May 6 verdict, which found him and several others guilty of illegal iron ore mining operations carried out between 2007 and 2009. The CBI court had imposed a fine of ₹10,000 each on all convicts and held them responsible for causing a loss of ₹884 crore to the public exchequer.
Reddy, who was listed as accused number two in the case, was convicted alongside his brother-in-law Srinivasa Reddy—Managing Director of Obulapuram Mining Company—and others, including VD Rajagopal, former Director of Mines and Geology, and Mehafuz Ali Khan, Reddy’s personal assistant.
The Special CBI Court had delivered its judgment 14 years after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a charge sheet, accusing the individuals of tampering with lease boundary markers and conducting illegal mining activities in the ecologically sensitive Bellary Reserve Forest, straddling the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.
The Telangana High Court is expected to hear Reddy’s bail plea in the coming days.
