MINING BARON REDDY ARRESTED IN BRIBERY CASE
BENGALURU: Ballari mining baron and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy was arrested on Sunday after being questioned for over 10 hours in an alleged bribery case in Bengaluru, according to the police.
Reddy and his aide Ali Khan were sent to judicial custody till November 24 after being produced before a magistrate. He has been housed at the Parappana Agrahara central prison in the Karnataka capital. “We have taken the decision to arrest him on the basis of credible evidence and witness statements,” said Alok Kumar, additional commissioner of police, central crime branch, of the Bengaluru police.
Reddy’s lawyers have filed a bail application in a magistrate’s court, which will hear the matter on Monday.
The bribery case, registered last year, against Reddy involves ponzi scam accused Syed Ahmed Fareed, who allegedly cheated around 15,000 people to the tune of ₹600 crore through his firm Ambidant Marketing. Fareed allegedly told the police that he gave Reddy 57kg of gold worth ₹18 crore after the latter promised to help him fix an investigation launched by the Enforcement Directorate.
The central crime branch questioned Reddy from around 4pm on Saturday till about 2.30am, said an officer who asked not to be named. The questioning resumed on Sunday before Reddy was arrested, the officer added.
In a series of videos released on Saturday, Reddy rebutted the charges against him and criticised the police for “spreading false information”. He also refuted allegations by the police that he was on the run to evade arrest.
Reddy was denied a ticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Karnataka assembly elections in May, but campaigned for his two brothers, Gali Karunakara Reddy and Gali Somashekhara Reddy. He also campaigned in the Molakalmuru seat for close aide and eventual winner B Sriramulu.
Sriramulu resigned as the Lok Sabha MP from Ballari seat following the assembly elections. The seat was won by the Congress in last week’s bypoll.