HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation probing the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) case shifted the key accused in the case and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy from the Chanchalguda Central Prison to Bengaluru on Thursday. He will be produced in a Bengaluru court on Friday in connection with another illegal iron ore mining case against him in that state.
With the Special CBI court here directing the jail authorities to follow jail rules and regulations in shifting the accused through Prisoner on Transit (PT) warrant, the CBI officials shifted Janardhan Reddy by road in a vehicle escorted by two sub-inspectors and eight constables.
Before boarding the vehicle, Reddy offered prayers at the Shirdi Sai Baba temple on the jail premises (said to have been built with funds donated by him) and chanted ''Satyameva Jayate".
A team of CBI officials from Bengaluru also got into the vehicle that left the prison at 5.15 pm. Earlier in the day, Janardhan Reddy approached the special CBI Court with a plea to shift him to Bangalore by air in view of safety concerns. "I am an MLC and former Karnataka minister. I may be having enemies and there is a threat to my life. I request you to fly me to Bangalore,'' he said in his petition which was not allowed.
A special CBI court in Bangalore had issued a warrant against Reddy asking him to appear before it on March 2 in connection with illegal mining activity by the Associated Mining Company (AMC) owned by him and his wife Aruna.
The CBI in Karnataka had filed an FIR against 21 persons, including Gali Janardhan Reddy, his wife Aruna and a former minister charging them with mining iron ore in Karnataka and transporting it to Anthar Gangamma Konda (AGK) in Andhra Pradesh and, from there, exporting it to other countries illegally.