Conditions for bail: Janardhan Reddy shouldn’t be allowed to visit Bellary, CBI to SC

Team Udayavani, Aug 14, 2021, 11:47 AM IST

New Delhi/Bellary: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told Supreme court that mining baron and former Karnataka Minister, Gali Janardhan Reddy should not be ordered to visit and stay there.

The CBI submitted before the Supreme Court that the conditions for bail, already granted by the Court, should not be diluted and the accused Gali Janardhan Reddy, is a very serious threat to the witnesses in Bellary, adding that he should not be ordered to visit and stay there.

The Supreme Court’s two-judge bench, headed by Justice Vineet Saran, was hearing a petition filed by Reddy, accused in multi-million illegal mining cases and seeking its permission to visit and stay in the District of Bellary, Karnataka, his hometown for eight weeks.

“My endeavour is to convince your lordships (Judges) that his conditions for bail should not be diluted. There was a reason as to why this should not happen. He is a very serious threat to witnesses over there (in Bellary in Karnataka),” the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Madhvi Divan, a senior lawyer appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted to the apex court today.

The CBI is the investigating agency in the multi-million rupee illegal mining cases involving Gali Janardhan Reddy as one of the prime accused involved in two states Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The ASG Divan submitted to the Apex Court that the accused, Reddy, is a person who has been very seriously accused in mining cases.
“The power that this person, Gali Janardhan Reddy, has had an impact on two district judges and one CBI judge. Twice his application for bail was rejected,” Divan submitted to the apex court.

ASG Divan further pleaded to the top court that the accused, Gali Janardhan Reddy, should not be ordered to visit Bellary, in Karnataka as he sought in his petition filed before the Supreme Court seeking the SC’s direction to visit his native place there in Bellary.

The ASG Divan also told the Supreme Court that his bail conditions should not be diluted, as it is very likely that he will try to allegedly tamper with the evidences or try to influence the tutor witnesses in Bellary in these mining cases.

ASG Divan questioned the way the accused has filed petitions after petitions for discharge.

“The accused is filing many discharge applications to delay the trial on many occasions. He along with other accused, trying to continue to keep the court over there busy with discharge petitions. Even now they are not allowing the trial to proceed after being granted bail,” Divan submitted to the apex court.

Opposing the arguments of Divan, senior lawyer and former Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the accused, Gali Janardhan Reddy, had said that his client was arrested in 2011 and the allegations were there that he was mining beyond the lease area. He was bailed out on Jan 20, 2015.
Rohatgi stated that on several occasions, Reddy had been allowed to go to Bellary and he had never violated the bail conditions imposed by the Court.

“It will be very harsh for me if the court did not allow my plea. It’s been six years and the trial has not commenced yet,” Rohatgi submitted to the apex court.

He pleaded to the Apex Court that he is seeking relaxation of the bail conditions and wanted to visit Bellary for 8 weeks.

“He is a resident of Bellary, which is his hometown and he seeks permission to visit Bellary for 8 weeks,” Rohatgi submitted to the apex court.
“The CBI is now opposing this request of my petition, at this juncture, I couldn’t understand,” Rohatgi said.

He said that 3-4 supplementary charge sheets have already been filed against his client, adding that the charges are yet to be framed and the trial has not commenced and there are many accused persons in the case.

(With input from Agencies)