SC permits ex-Karnataka minister Janardhan Reddy to visit ailing father-in-law

The SC has allowed Former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy to visit Ballari in Karnataka to visit his ailing father-in-law. He is an accused in a multi-crore rupee illegal mining case.

New Delhi:The vacation bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Indu Malhotra and MR Shah allowed Former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, an accused in a multi-crore rupee illegal mining case, to visit Ballari in Karnataka to visit his ailing father-in-law.

Yesterday, the former Karnataka minister had moved to SC seeking permission to travel Ballari to visit his ailing father-in-law who is in ICU presently.

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"We are concerned as to why charges have not been framed and trial yet not started," the bench said while pulling up the CBI, the prosecuting agency in the case.

The bench, which permitted Reddy to attend to his father-in-law for two weeks from June 8, refused however to consider his request seeking dilution of the previous condition barring him to visit Ballari, Karnataka, without the court's prior nod.

Senior advocate S Ganesh, appearing for Reddy, said on several occasions he has been permitted to visit Ballari and there was not a single complaint that he violated bail conditions.

"This time, his father-in-law had suffered a stroke. He had undergone three bypass surgeries. His medical condition is extremely precarious and he was lying in ICU of a hospital over there," the lawyer said.

During the brief hearing, the lawyer also said that despite the apex court direction of July 2016 to speed up the trial, it has not even started as the charges are yet to be framed.

Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, who appeared for the probe agency, opposed the plea for relaxation of restrictions imposed on Reddy on his visit to Ballari and said that he was the main accused in the case.

"Why charges were not framed for six years. We are concerned about the delay," the bench asked.

The charges could not be framed because few other co-accused have filed pleas seeking discharge from the case and they are still pending, the law officer said, adding that CBI would like to file a detailed reply in the case.

The court said however that it would only deal with Reddy's plea seeking its nod to visit Ballari.

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The apex court in March had dismissed Reddy's plea to modify his bail condition over Ballari visit.

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.