Bangalore:
The Karnataka government on Thursday authorized the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to seize ‘surplus property’ of former minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, his wife and companies owned by him.
The order came after the Karnataka High Court gave the state government two days on January 10 to provide information regarding the delay in granting permission to the CBI to seize Reddy’s property.
The court had asked the government why it had not given the go-ahead to seize the properties worth Rs 19 crore when it had earlier approved the sequestration of Rs 64 crore assets.
The government order issued on Thursday referred to the request of the CBI Superintendent of Police to allow the Pairavi Officer/Holding Investigation Officer to apply for the seizure in the Special Court for CBI Cases in Bengaluru of ‘planned surplus properties’ of Reddy.
“The Pairavi Officer/Holding Investigation Officer is hereby authorized to apply to the Special Court for CBI Cases, Bengaluru City, for the seizure of planned surplus property of G Janardhana Reddy both in his name and in name of his wife and his businesses and also other properties as shown in the listing of properties as shown in the listing of properties filed along with the letter dated August 30, 2022,” the order said.
The CBI had asked the court to seek government approval for the seizure proceedings against the main defendant in the Ballari illegal mining case. The CBI’s request has been with the government since August 2022.
The CBI had tracked down additional properties in the name of Reddy, his wife and the company in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The agency is trying to seize those properties in the illegal mining case that has been pending in a special court since 2013.
The central agency alleged that Reddy was trying to sell the properties he obtained with the money from illegal mining operations through his companies Obulapuram Mining Company and Associated Mining Company Ltd.
On December 25 last year, Reddy had announced the launch of a new political party ‘Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha’. As a suspect in the illegal mining case, he has severed his two-decade-old ties with the BJP.
Reddy returned to electoral politics from outside the Ballari district of the state and said he would contest the 2023 Assembly polls from Gangavathi in Koppal district.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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