CBI Arrests Gali Janardhan Reddy For Illegal Mining

After conducting raids on the premises of mining baron from Karnataka Gali Janardhan Reddy, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested him. Srinivas Reddy, the managing director of Bellary Mining Corporation and Mr Janardhana Reddy's brother-in-law, was also been arrested along with him.

The CBI is investigating alleged illegal mining operations in the Reddy brothers' Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) in Andhra Pradesh. Janardhana Reddy, along with his brothers Karunakara and Somashekara, owns the Obulapuram mining company. The brothers are not just billionaires and mining barons with huge influence in their area, but are also powerful politicians. A 10-member CBI team raided the house of Janardhana Reddy in Bellary and office in Bangalore, and Srinivas Reddy's house in Bangalore. Sources say they were taken away by the CBI team with police escort.

The Reddys are accused of mining far beyond the 25.9 hectares their company was allowed to mine in. The CBI alleges the Reddys mined deep into the Bellary Reserve forest area - which includes portions of both, Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh and Bellary in Karnataka. The CBI says the Reddys have violated the state borders, including allegedly blasting the Sugulamma Devi temple on the border, which was a landmark. Obulapuram Minining Company is in Andhra Pradesh along the Karnataka border, though the company's main office is in Bellary, the iron-ore rich district of Karnataka, about 300 km from Bangalore.