A textbook perfect raid was responsible for the arrests of former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy and his relative B. Srinivasa Reddy, who were sent to jail in Hyderabd after a special court remanded them to 14 days judicial custody in an illegal mining case.
The entire operation lasted less than 15 minutes.
CBI officials sprang a surprise in Bellary, Karnataka, in the early hours of Monday without even the knowledge of the state police chief — DG&IGP Achuta Rao.
A 16-man team, part of the operation headed by CBI joint director V.V. Lakshmi Narayana, had checked into a hotel late night in Bellary under fictitious names to escape identification, Deccan Chronicle can now reveal.
The main team led by Mr Lakshmi Narayana then left Hyderabad for Bellary in local cabs and headed straight towards the residence of B.V. Srinivas Reddy, MD, Obulapuram Mining Company and brother-in-law of Mr Janardhana Reddy in Shreenagar in Avambhavi locality, where they arrested him around 5.30 am.
The others then rushed to the former tourism minister’s mansion, which was nearby and took him into custody. Mr Lakshmi Narayana then left for Hyderabad with the duo, where they were later produced before the local magistrate.
A helicopter named Rukmini
The sleuths seized 30 kgs of gold, Rs 3 crores in cash, a personal dairy, a laptop, mobile from Mr Janardhana's residence. Also in the bag are a Rolls Royce, a Range Rover, luxury cars from Audi, Mercedes Benz, BMW and more than a dozen Scorpios and Bolero SUVs. The prize catch was Mr Janardhana Reddy's five seater Bell helicopter named 'Rukmini'.
More arrests?
Mentioning the seizures, the CBI deputy legal adviser, Mr B. Ravindranath, submitted to the court that the agency required custody to prevent them from tampering with evidence, and to probe Janardhan Reddy’s assets put at Rs 20,000 crore.
Asked about more arrests in the case, Lakshmi Narayana said the agency would think about it after gathering more evidence.
The arrests come nearly 21 months after the CBI, Hyderabad registered a case against the company on December 7, 2009 under various sections of IPC, the Prevention of Corruption Act, Indian Forest Act, Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act with regard to the alleged illegal mining.
CBI to track Gali, Jagan trail
According to the CBI affidavit in the AP High Court, Janardhana Reddy had made huge quid pro quo investments into Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s Jagati Publications.
The agency is also interested in RR Global owned by Mr S. Diwakar Reddy who was a regular visitor to YSR’s camp office. RR Global had invested in both Jagathi Publications and OMC.
Mr Diwakar Reddy’s brother Mr S. R. Reddy is the executive director of Saakshi Telugu daily and Indira Television.
"We will concentrate on the outflow of money from the mines," a senior official said adding that there was already a link in the form of RR Global, which had got substantial revenue out of Obulapuram mines as a sub-contractor and had invested in Jagan’s companies.
Action on Jagan now easy?
The arrest of Mr Janardhan Reddy is likely to make it easier for the CBI to pursue the Jagan Mohan Reddy dissproportionate assets case without further problems.
Some people believe that following this development, no one can question the CBI even if it chooses to arrest Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The CBI officials, however, deny any move to arrest the Kadapa MP. They say it is too early to take that decision and that they are focusing on collecting more evidence.
Those who have been watching the developments closely, say the CBI is moving strategically to avoid any future problem, be it political or otherwise, in the Jagan Mohan case.