Belekeri: CBI names Reddy accused No. 1 in one more case

 

Bellary: For the second time, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the Belekeri port illegal iron ore export scam has named jailed former minister Gali Janardhan Reddy as accused No.1 in a charge sheet filed against ore export firm Dream Logistics Company Pvt Ltd (DLC).

 

The CBI filed two chargesheets on Saturday against DLC, owned by Yellapur MLA Shivaram Hebbar’s family and  ILC Industries owned by jailed exporter Kovvur Somashekhar.

 

Earlier in May, the CBI, Bengaluru branch had named Janardhan Reddy accused No.1 in the chargesheet filed against  S B Logistics Company in the Belekeri case, apart from these two cases, Reddy has been named prime accused in the chargesheets filed against Associated Mining Company in Karnataka and  Obulapuram Mining Company in Andhra Pradesh.

 

Along with Reddy, the CBI has named his two personal accountants Chittala Srinivasa Reddy and K. Murali as accused in the DLC case. Both have been arrested again. They were out on bail after they were arrested in connection with their alleged role in facilitating the illegal export of iron through Belekeri ore by SB Logistics. Highly placed sources alleged that Srinivasa Reddy and K. Murali were collecting payments from DLC for ore that was illegally delivered to the company. This ore was extracted without the required permits from various mines in Bellary that were under the control of then district in charge minister Janardhan Reddy. After collecting bearer cheques from Dream Logistics for the ore supplied, sources claimed Murali and Reddy encashed the cheques and delivered the money to Janardhan Reddy after retaining a commission.

 

Dream Logistics allegedly exported nine lakh tonnes of ore between January 1, 2009 and May 31, 2010 of which three lakh tonnes were illegal. Mr Sham Singh, cousin of MLA B.S. Anand Singh, Idli Yarriswamy and B. Nagendra, independent MLA from Kudligi were arrested for supplying illicit ore to DLC. The proprietor of DLC Vivek Hebbar is also named among 16 prime accused. 

 

In the ILC Industries case; sources said CBI has found that ILC exported seven lakh tonnes of iron ore in the same period of which 2.5 lakh tonnes were illegal. The proprietor of ILC, K. Somashekhar and Hospet MLA B S Anand Singh has been named prime accused along with Janardhan Reddy’s close aides Mehfuz Ali Khan, Swastik Nagaraj and Kharapudi Mahesh.