Karnataka govt authorises CBI to attach 'excess properties' of mining baron Janardhana Reddy

The Karnataka government on Thursday authorised the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to attach 'excess properties' belonging to former minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, his wife and companies owned by him.

The order came after the High Court of Karnataka granted the state government two days on January 10 to give information on the delay in granting permission to the CBI to attach Reddy's properties.

The court had asked the government why it had not given the go-ahead to attach the properties worth Rs 19 crore while it had earlier sanctioned the attachment of Rs 64 crore assets.

The government order on Thursday referred to the request made by the Superintendent of Police of the CBI to issue authorisation to the ‘Pairavi officer/Holding Investigation Officer’ to file an application before the special court for CBI cases in Bengaluru for the attachment of ‘scheduled excess properties’ of Reddy.

“The Pairavi officer/Holding Investigation Officer is hereby authorised to file an application before the special court for CBI cases, Bengaluru city for the attachment of scheduled excess properties of G Janardhana Reddy in his name as well as in the name of his wife and his companies and also other properties as shown in the schedule of properties as shown in the schedule of the properties that is submitted along with the letter dated August 30, 2022," the order said.

The CBI had sought direction from the court to the government to approve attachment proceedings against the main accused in the Ballari illegal mining case. The request of the CBI has been pending before the government since August 2022.

The CBI had traced additional properties in the name of Reddy, his wife, and the company in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The agency seeks to attach those properties in the illegal mining case pending before a special court since 2013.

The central agency claimed Reddy was trying to sell the properties he had obtained from the money from illegal mining activities through his companies Obulapuram Mining Company and Associated Mining Company Ltd.

On December 25 last year, Reddy had announced the launch of a new political party 'Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha'. An accused in the illegal mining case, he has severed his two-decades-old association with the BJP.

Re-entering electoral politics from outside Ballari district of the state, Reddy said he would contest the 2023 Assembly polls from Gangavathi in Koppal district.