CBI finding it hard to keep Reddys' riches

Gali Janardhan Reddy, the mining baron from Bellary, was on Friday produced before Central Bureau of Investigation's special court in Bengaluru and will be interrogated in connection with the Associated Mining Company scam.

While the CBI has a lot on its plate, it also has another headache -- maintaining Reddy's famous chopper, Rukmini that was seized two days after he was arrested and lodged at the Chanchalguda prison in Hyderabad.

While the CBI maintained that it was necessary to seize the chopper, as they suspected that it had been purchased with funds derived from illegal mining, Reddy's legal team said that it was more of a show and it hardly made any sense seizing a chopper.

The Rs 12 crore Bell 407 helicopter, named after Reddy's daughter Rukmini, is costing the CBI Rs 75,000 towards maintenance while Reddy is coughing up a monthly instalment of Rs 10.3 lakh for it.

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The CBI wants to take no chances and has not been treating this case as any other seizure. They do not want to run the risk of being sued in case something went wrong with the chopper.

Another bone of contention is a Volvo bus worth Rs 5 crore which Reddy used to campaign in Bellary.

Also on the CBI maintenance list are a Rolls Royce Phantom, a BMW, a Maserati, a Mercedes Benz, a Land Cruiser, an Audi, a Pajero and a Bentley.

The investigation: While all these days Reddy faced interrogation for cases in Andhra Pradesh he would now be grilled in the Bengaluru jail by the CBI. The road ahead for Reddy is extremely tough, especially in Karnataka as he faces a lot of charges in the AMC case.

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It is alleged that a mining lease for a period of 30 years was granted on March 12, 1966 to the Associated Mining Company and as per the conditions it was permitted to mine in an area of 16.9 hectares in Venkatagiri village of Sandur taluk in Ramghad forest block in Bellary for winning of iron ore mineral. The lease period expired on March 1, 1996. The contract renewal was affected on March 24, 2000 -- after was a gap of four years. But, mining continued in the interim.

There are nearly 21 accused persons in the case and the other angle of the probe would also be as to how 900 transit permits were issued to this company to mine despite the expiry of the lease period.

Janardhan Reddy was on Friday sent to remand till March 12. His appearance in rthe special CBI court was not short of drama. While being brought into the court complex amidst high security, a fight erupted between journalists and lawyers which turned ugly. The situation was however brought under control after the police stepped into the scene.

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