Andhra Pradesh Police on Saturday seized Rs.4 lakh from the house of mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy's driver and also searched the houses of relatives of a former government official in an illegal mining case.
The police in Anantapur town searched the residence of Basha, the driver of former Karnataka minister, and seized Rs.4 lakh, two kg of silver articles and some documents.
The driver is being questioned by police, who also searched the houses of former director of mining V.D. Rajagopal and seized some documents, sources said.
The searches were conducted while a court in Anantapur district Saturday remanded in police custody truck driver Venkatarami Reddy and his assistant Eswar Reddy, from whose vehicle Rs.4.9 crore stuffed in three sacks were recovered.
The two were arrested at Guntakal in Anantapur district on Thursday when they were transporting the cash from Bellary district in Karnataka.
They reportedly told police that the cash belonged to Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) managing director B.V. Srinivasa Reddy, who along with his brother-in-law Janardhana Reddy was currently in the custody of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI early on Saturday took Srinivasa Reddy from Hyderabad to Bellary for the investigations into both the illegal mining and the cash seizure. The investigating agency checked his bank accounts and lockers.
The federal agency, which arrested Janardhana and Srinivasa from Bellary on September 5, has been questioning them since Monday in connection with the illegal mining case registered against OMC in 2009.
The searches in Anantapur and Bellary were conducted amid reports that the accused were shifting large amounts of cash out of Bellary.
The CBI officials were also questioning Rajagopal for the last two days. The prosecutors told the court last week that public servants had colluded with OMC in the illegal mining.
The CBI has also questioned Janardhana Reddy's brothers Karunakara and Somasekhara.
The powerful Reddy brothers hail from Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh but made iron ore rich Bellary their base and extended their mining operations to Anantapur district.