Hyderabad, 11 June 

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday suspended the conviction and sentence handed down to former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal iron ore mining case and granted him bail.

The High Court also granted bail to three others convicted alongside Reddy—his brother-in-law and OMC Managing Director BV Srinivas Reddy, former Director of Mines and Geology (Andhra Pradesh), VD Rajagopal, and Reddy’s aide Mehafuz Ali Khan.

A special CBI court in Hyderabad had convicted the four on 6 May, sentencing them to seven years of rigorous imprisonment. Following this, they approached the High Court seeking suspension of their sentence and release on bail.

The court allowed their plea, suspending the sentence and granting them bail upon furnishing a personal bond of Rs 10 lakh each, along with two sureties of the same amount. The accused have been directed not to leave the country without prior court permission.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered the case on 8 December 2009, alleging a criminal conspiracy to illegally mine iron ore in the Bellary Reserve Forest area, straddling the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.

According to the CBI, the accused manipulated mining lease boundary markings and trespassed onto government and private land to extract iron ore, causing an estimated loss of over Rs 800 crore to the public exchequer.

The suspension of sentence allows Reddy and the others to remain free pending further proceedings in the case.