Over the past six years, former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy made repeated attempts to get his bail conditions modified. He moved court several times, requesting that he be allowed to visit and stay in his home turf, Ballari. Finally, the Supreme Court on Thursday made changes in his bail conditions in the multi-crore mining scam case.
During the previous hearing last week, the Central Bureau of Investigation opposed Reddy’s plea for making modifications to his bail conditions. Additional solicitor general Madhavi Divan, who is representing the CBI, said, “Bail was only granted on conditions. The order was a consensual order. The petitioners can’t cherry-pick what conditions they have to adhere to and what they don’t adhere to.”
The CBI also told the top court that allowing Reddy to stay in Ballari may result in witnesses turning hostile. ASG Divan said that the bail was granted on conditions that he would not visit Ballari district and this can’t be altered. Justice Vineet Saran and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari were hearing the petition.
Reddy moved the petition in the SC, citing delay in trial. Countering this, Divan argued that the acts of Reddy and other accused persons were the reason for the delay. She also added that Reddy had been enjoying his liberty and the conditions in the bail were not difficult to handle.
Janardhana Reddy’s counsel, senior lawyer Mukul Rohtagi, told the court that his client was allowed to visit Ballari on several occasions on conditions. “Charges are yet to be framed. The trial has not commenced. I request you to allow my client to visit and stay in Ballari,” Rohtagi said to the court.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court made modifications to the bail conditions, allowing Reddy to visit and stay in Ballari district.
Janardhana Reddy played a major role in the Bharatiya Janata Party forming the government in Karnataka in 2008. The first time Operation Kamala (Operation Lotus), to engineer defection of rival party legislators, was launched by the Reddy brothers of Ballari, observers say. In 2008, with the help of the cash-rich brothers, BS Yediyurappa became the chief minister. Janardhana Reddy led the horse-trading of lawmakers and managed to get turncoats to form the government, analysts say.
Three years later, in 2011, Janardhana Reddy was arrested by the CBI on charges of illegal mining. He was barred from visiting Ballari district when he got bail in 2015.
Janardhana Reddy virtually ruled Ballari for almost a decade. Nobody knew who he and his brothers – Somashekara Reddy and Karunakara Reddy – were until 1999. He first came under the spotlight after his chit fund company Ennoble India Savings collapsed, leaving unpaid debt of over Rs 200 crore. Current minister in Karnataka cabinet B Sriramulu is and was Reddy’s trusted lieutenant, say observers. In 2006, with a BJP-Janta Dal (Secular) coalition government and the efforts of Reddy, Sriramulu was made a cabinet minister. Reddy was made a Member of the Legislative Council to recognise his role.
This move for the Reddy brothers into the BJP gave them a big boost in the political arena as they became associated with late union minister Sushma Swaraj. Swaraj took on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in the 1999 Lok Sabha general elections from Ballari. Though the BJP leader lost, the Reddy brothers and Sriramulu grew close to her, say observers. They were also in touch with the Congress’s YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the-then chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.
In 2001, the Reddy brothers started the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) with an initial capital of Rs 10 lakh, and within nine years the company had a turnover of about Rs 3,000 crore. Janardhana Reddy used his political connections and took over other mining companies one after another to build his empire. At his peak, his native region was called “Republic of Ballari”. He was made a minister in the Yediyurappa government after an assembly election victory in 2008. He also partnered with YSR’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy in Brahmani Steels based in Jagan’s hometown Kadapa.
The lavish lifestyle of the Reddy brothers and Sriramulu at the time was unimaginable. If they were in Delhi or in some other place for a meeting, they would fly back to Ballari for lunch or dinner and head back again in their choppers. Reddy had got a 24×7 flying clearance from the civil aviation ministry, say observers.
In 2011, the-then Lokayukta of Karnataka, Santosh Hegde, published a report on illegal mining activities in Ballari. And Janardhana Reddy’s empire and ‘Republic of Ballari’ started to come apart.
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