Verdict in OMC case comes after 14 long years
Anantapur:The 14-year-old case on illegal mining of rich iron ore at Obulapuram area in D Hirehal mandal and areas closer to Ballary district borders, has concluded with the Hyderabad CBI court imposing 7 years of imprisonment to mining baron and BJP MLA Gali Janardhan Reddy and others.
Janardhan Reddy hails from Gangavathi in Vijayanagar district. The others are his close aide Srinivasa Reddy and personal assistant, K Mehfuz Ali Khan and the then mines director VD Rajagopal. They are likely to file an appeal against the verdict, further dragging the case for more years.
The CBI chargesheet had stated that Gali Janardhan Reddy and his associates illegally mined iron ore beyond their lease areas, including from Karnataka’s forest lands, causing a loss of `884.13 crore to the exchequer.
The case pertained to the illegal mining operations in the reserve forest of D Hirehal mandal in Anantapur district closer to Karnataka’s Ballay district.
In 2009, the then Congress government favoured OMC (Obulapuram Mining Company) in the matter of granting iron ore mining leases in Obulapuram of Anantapur district. Following an investigation, a committee of the Supreme Court uncovered significant law violations by OMC.
It was found that the firm engaged in illegal mining of ore from areas other than those allotted to it, along with such actions in reserved forest areas, where rich iron ore was available.
The issue had caused political tremors in the state during the term of a Congress government. It was the Telugu Desam that opposed the illicit mining.
Gali Janardhana Reddy, who enjoyed huge clout in the region, had later been banished from Ballary, Anantapur and Kadapa districts to avert possibilities of him influencing the witnesses.
Reddy could thereafter visit his native place only on permission from the CBI court. He had to seek and obtain such permission even for his daughter’s marriage and other family functions.
Meanwhile, the mining baron formed a new political party Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and won the MLA seat from Gangavathi constituency in the 2023 general elections. He later merged his party into the BJP.
Legal sources said he may face disqualification as MLA following his imprisonment in the mining case.
The investigation agency filed its first chargesheet in December 2011. In total, four chargesheets were submitted against nine individuals. After Janardhan Reddy was arrested by the CBI, he was in judicial remand for three years and four months.
The sensational case took a serious political turn after then chief minister YS Rasekhar Reddy’s death. His successor Rosaiah as chief minister suspended mining activities of the Obulapuram Mining Company and handed over the case to the CBI in December 2009. Since then, the central agency has interrogated 219 witnesses and investigated 3,400 documents.
However, Janardhan Reddy’s defence counsel said they would approach the upper court against the verdict as “there was no clarity and evidence about the illicit mining.” Further Janardhan Reddy and others already served over three years in judicial remand, he said.
