Hyderabad – A special CBI court in Hyderabad on Tuesday sentenced former Karnataka minister and MLA Gali Janardhan Reddy to seven years in prison for his role in a major illegal mining case involving the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC). Along with Reddy, three others were also convicted. Each was fined ₹10,000.
The case centered around illegal mining operations in the Bellary Reserve Forest region, located along the Karnataka–Andhra Pradesh border. Authorities said the mining caused a massive ₹884 crore loss to the government between 2007 and 2009.
The court found that the accused tampered with mining lease boundary markers to extract iron ore beyond permitted areas. The CBI, which investigated the case, filed its first chargesheet in December 2011, followed by three more.
The convicted include:
– Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director of OMC and brother-in-law of Gali Janardhan Reddy (listed as Accused No. 1)
– VD Rajagopal, former Assistant Director of Mines and Geology
– Mehafuz Ali Khan, personal assistant to Janardhan Reddy
Gali Janardhan Reddy, listed as Accused No. 2, was also a director of OMC. The court imposed an additional ₹1 lakh fine on the company itself.
After the verdict, CBI officials immediately took the convicted into custody.
Meanwhile, the court cleared P Sabita Indra Reddy, a BRS leader and former Telangana minister, who served as Mines Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh from 2004 to 2009. Retired IAS officer B Krupanandam was also acquitted.
Earlier, in November 2022, the Telangana High Court had discharged senior IAS officer Y Srilakshmi from the case.
CBI Public Prosecutor Inderjeet Santoshi and Assistant Public Prosecutor Vishnu Majji represented the investigation agency during the trial.
This judgment comes nearly 14 years after the case was first filed, offering a significant development in one of India’s largest mining scandals.
