Hearing on Reddys' custody adjourned till Sep 23

A special court today adjourned till September 23 the hearing on CBI's petition seeking custody of former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, arrested in connection with the alleged illegal mining activities.

With lawyers abstaining from work in view of the 'Sakal Janula Samme' (general strike by all sections called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee), the court adjourned the matter till Friday.

The CBI, probing the alleged illegal mining and irregularities in allotment of mining leases to Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), arrested mining baron Janardhana Reddy and OMC Managing Director Srinivas Reddy on September 5 from Bellary in Karnataka.

The duo are under judicial custody till October 3 and lodged at Chanchalguda Central Prison here.

The central agency, which had earlier interrogated the duo for six days, had on Monday last filed an application seeking extension of their custody for nine more days saying it wanted to probe details of foreign "benami" companies where Janardhana Reddy, (one of the directors of OMC) made and received investments by exporting iron ore.

Following allegations of large scale illegal mining and irregularities in allotment of mining leases to OMC in Bellary Reserve Forest area in Obulapuram and Malpanagudi villages of Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district, the CBI had registered a case against OMC on December 7, 2009.