The CBI special court on Friday granted conditional bail to mining baron and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy in the illegal mining case of Obulapuram Mining Corporation (OMC).
The special court while granting bail to Reddy, directed him to deposit two sureties and a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh and advised him not to leave the country and cooperate with the CBI in the investigations.
The special court directed Janardhan Reddy, who was arrested in September last year, to surrender his passport and not to interfere in the investigation into the other illegal mining cases or influence witnesses. “The petitioner (Gali) shall remain in Bellary (Karnataka) and is permitted to attend other cases in Bangalore,” the judge ordered.
The judge dismissed the plea by the CBI to suspend the implementation of bail order as it wanted to file a petition in the High Court against it.
Gali Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivsas Reddy, Managing director of the mining company, were arrested on September 5 last year from Bellary.
The CBI had filed a charge sheet against Janardhan Reddy and others on December 3 accusing them of changing mining lease boundary markings between AP and Karnataka and indulged in illegal mining in the Bellary Reserve Forest areas, between Karnataka and Anantapur district of AP.
The CBI charged all the accused under criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust by public servant, cheating, forgery for purpose of cheating and relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.
Earlier, the trial court and high court rejected bail petitions of Reddy for six times.
Meanwhile, the court rejected the bail petition of another accused and suspended IAS officer Y Srilakshmi, who is facing charges in the OMC case.
–Agencies