Janardhan Reddy held, 4.5 Cr cash, gold seized : CBI
Source: The Sangai Express / Press Trust of India

Bellary/Delhi, September 05 2011: The CBI today arrested former Karnataka Minister and mining baron G Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy in connection with illegal mining after raids at their premises allegedly led to a seizure of 30 kg of gold and Rs 4.5 crore in cash.

Booked under corruption charges, Reddy, a powerful BJP leader in Karnataka, and Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director of Obalapuram Mining Company owned by the Reddy brothers, were taken to Hyderabad where a special CBI court remanded the two in judicial custody.

The two men were later jailed in Chanchalguda prison.

Cheating and criminal trespass under IPC sections and irregularities in Andhra Pradesh under the mining act are among the charges against the two arrested men who were also booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The crackddown on the two men began in the wee hours of the morning in Bellary when a 15-member CBI team from Hyderabad conducted searches at the house of Janardhana Reddy.

Official sources claimed that the CBI sleuths seized Rs three crore in cash and over 30 kgs of gold.

A sum of Rs 1.5 crore was also seized from the residence of Srinivasa Reddy, they claimed.

"Janardhana Reddy and Srinivasa Reddy have been arrested under Prevention of Corruption Act," CBI DIG PV Lakshminarayana, who is heading the team, told reporters in Bellary after making the arrest in this mining town.

The arrests came in connection with the cases filed by CBI against the Reddy brothers in Andhra Pradesh, official sources said.

Supporters of Janardhana Reddy staged protest in parts of Bellary against his arrest and raised anti-Congress slogans.

Even as the CBI team escorted the Reddys to Hyderabad, the agency continued searches at Janardhana Reddy's residence in Bellary and Bangalore.

A team also questioned Aruna Lakshmi, wife of Janardhana Reddy in Bellary, and another conducted searches at his residence in Bangalore, they said.

The CBI action comes a day after the Reddy brothers' close associate and former minister B Sreeramulu quit his Assembly membership protesting against their being kept out of the ministry following their indictment by a Lokayukta report.

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