Mining scam: SC permits Gali Janardhana Reddy to visit Ballari

Ballari/New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday allowed former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, accused in a multi-crore illegal mining case, to visit his home town Ballari to see his ailing father-in-law.

A vacation bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi also expressed concern over delay in trial in the Rs 35,000 crore mining scam as charges have not been framed against the accused persons in the last six years despite its order for expeditious trial.

Reddy, who is out on bail, said in his plea that his father-in law is in ICU at a hospital in Ballari, Karnataka.

He was granted conditional bail by the apex court in January 2015 after spending more than three years in jail, and directed not to visit his home town Ballari as well as Ananthapur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.

Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, managing director of the Obalapuram Mining Company (OMC), were arrested by CBI on September 5, 2011 from Ballari and brought to Hyderabad.

The company is accused of changing mining lease boundary markings and indulging in illegal mining in the Ballari Reserve Forest area, spread over Ballari and Anantapur district.