Hyderabad: The bail plea of Karnataka’s former minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy and three others, convicted in the Obulapuram illegal mining case recently, was rejected by the Telangana high court on Wednesday.A special CBI court had earlier sentenced Gali Janardhan, his PA Mehfuz Ali Khan, relative and Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) MD B V Srinivas Reddy, and former director of AP mines department VD Rajagopal to seven years’ jail.All four are currently in Chanchalguda jail and they had filed criminal appeals in the HC challenging the trial court’s order.Denying any interim relief, Justice Narsing Rao Nandikonda, presiding over a vacation court, said there was no urgency in the matter. “The trial court judgment is 1,200 pages. There are also enormous documents. We have to hear CBI’s version. Let the probe agency first file the counter,” the judge said. In his appeal, Gali Janardhan claimed the trial court failed to consider that the consent granted by AP in Nov 2009 for a CBI probe was only for the boundary dispute and illegal mining by OMC and Bellary Iron Ore Pvt Ltd. Hence, the CBI probe and consequent conviction for irregularities in the allocation of mining leases to OMC were without jurisdiction and devoid of legal sanction, he said. Also, the issue of demarcation of lease boundaries among the six mining lessees belonging to the mining firms was still pending before the Supreme Court, he said. Referring to the acquittal of public servants – former minister Sabitha Indra Reddy and retired IAS offcer Kripanandam – he said that criminal breach of trust was not possible for a private person without the connivance of a public servant who was entrusted with a public asset. “My conviction under criminal breach of trust is, therefore, without any basis,” he said. The advocates representing Gali and others said they are seeking a stay on both the conviction and the sentence. They said if the court is of the view that it cannot stay the conviction without hearing the probe agency, it can stay the sentence and grant interim bail because the jail term is only seven years and, hence, they are entitled for suspension of sentence and consequent bail. The judge posted the case to May 28.
