Andhra: More twists in OMC illegal mining case

Chai

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posted on 12 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Retired IAS officer Kripanandam was the first bureaucrat to extend the lease tenure to the OMC, says a CBI chargesheet...

HYDERABAD: Retired IAS officer B Kripanandam, the then secretary of industries and commerce, was also involved in the Obulapuram Mining Company's illegal activities and he was the first bureaucrat to extend the lease tenure to the OMC before his retirement, according to a chargesheet filed by the CBI in the illegal mining case.
It also said that suspended IAS officer Y Srilakshmi deliberately favoured OMC.When YS Rajasekhara Reddy was chief minister, Kripananadam was secretary of industries and commerce department and the Anthar Gangamma Konda (AGK) mining area was granted to OMC owned by former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy and his brotherinlaw B V Srinivas Reddy on November 7, 2005 for digging iron ore, says the chargesheet.

The Special CBI Court on Thursday numbered the chargesheet (01/2012) and will issue summons soon to various persons as part of the court proceedings. The CBI filed the chargesheet in the first week of December last year.

On April 10, 2002, some shareholders- Dinesh Singh, Subdev Singh, Sobhay Kothari and K Nagabhushanam- transferred their total shares to Gali Janardhan Reddy. Within a month, on May 2, a special directorial board was formed with B Sriramulu, Karunakar Reddy, Gali Janardhan Reddy, his wife Laxmi Aruna, D Parameswara Reddy and G Rammohan Reddy.

Ever since they obtained permissions, the OMC has been engaged in illegal activities.

Srinivas Reddy, along with assistant director of mines in Anantapur Linga Reddy (accused no 5), was involved in a criminal conspiracy to facilitate grabbing of Vinayaka Mining Company (VMC) in 2004 by D Parameswara Reddy, fatherinlaw of Gali Janardhan Reddy. VMC was assigned some mining area in Siddapuram village in the district. Linga Reddy is no more.

On November 9, 2009, Kallol Biswas, then divisional forest officer, visited the 68.50 hectare mining area allotted to the OMC and found that illegal mining was taking place there.

The CBI said Srilakshmi played a key role in allotting the mining area to the OMC and would submit supplementary chargesheet shortly naming Srilakshmi and other bureaucrats in connection with the case.