The special CBI court in Hyderabad on Friday framed charges against education minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy, mining baron and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, and several others in the illegal mining case, dealing a blow to her.
However, no charges were framed against senior AP IAS officer Y Srilakshmi because her case had already been stayed by the Telangana High Court. Sabitha Reddy served as a mines and geology minister in the YS Rajasekhara Reddy government in the united Andhra Pradesh.
In the mining case, charges were also framed against former mines and geology department director VD Rajagopal, former secretary of mines B Krupanandam, Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) managing director BV Srinivas Reddy, and Gali’s personal assistant Mehfuz Ali Khan by principal special judge Ch Ramesh Babu.
It was reported that all of the accused were present in court as the judge read sections of the Indian Penal Code under which they will be tried soon.
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The special court will question two witnesses in the case, Tapal Ekambaram and H Mallikarjun, on November 9. Though the mining lease in AP was shown as notified for the purpose of catering to the iron ore needs of Brahmani Steels at Kadapa, the judge stated that the actual lease granted to Gali purposefully removed the words “captive mining.”
The accused were charged with illegally mining iron ore on the AP-K’taka border in Ballari by violating the leasehold areas granted to them.
“This led to largescale illegal mining on the AP-Karnataka border,” the central agency alleged.
According to the CBI, Krupanandam and Sabitha Reddy were both equally responsible for assigning mining leases to OMC at Obulapuram in Anantapur district in violation of the established procedures and providing undue benefits to the mining company.
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