Illegal mining: Judicial custody of Reddys extended till Nov 28

A special court on Monday extended till November 28, the judicial custody of mining baron and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law and Managing Director of Obulapuram Mining Company B V Srinivas Reddy, in the illegal mining case.

The court also granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation to take custody of V D Rajagopal, the third person arrested in the case. Rajagopal will remain in custody till November 21. The proceedings were conducted through video-conferencing from the Chanchalguda Central Prison, where the accused were lodged.

Rajagopal, former vice-chairman and managing director of Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation between 2004 and 2009, the period during which, the lease of mining in OMC, was given to Reddy.

Rajagopal was arrested by the CBI on Saturday evening and was taken to the residence of a magistrate yesterday, who directed the investigating agency to produce him before the special court on Monday.

Seeking Rajagopal's custody, the CBI informed the court that it has to get further information about his and others' involvement in the illegal mining case, as he recently went on record that OMC was given preferential treatment in allocation of iron ore and leases during the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government.

Gali Janardhan Reddy and Srinivas Reddy were arrested by the CBI on September 5 at Bellary in Karnataka in connection with illegal mining in OMC.